Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang - Tigress's daughter
by SnakeTeeth12
Summary: Liu is a 14 years old black panther. She is playfull, funny and fascinated with Kung Fu, and used to be an orphan from the Bao Gu Orphanage. But Now, she is the adoptive daughter of Master Tigress! Nowadays, our little friend lives at the Jade Palace with her adoptive mother and the other heroes of China, but will she be ready for the storm hiding behind the horizon?
1. Chapter 1 (part 1)

**Hi, Folks :D**

 **Well, before you begin reading, I must say something: I don't own Kung Fu Panda nor it's characters, but I do own this adventure and Liu is my friend's OC (his name is Destiny3000 on DeviantArt) , but I have his permission to write her adventures anywhere I wish. This is my fanfic! I recomend you to read his story "Kung Fu Panda 3: The Path of the Rising Sun" on DeviantArt, and you can read more Liu's adventures on DeviantArt as well (my name there is also SnakeTeeth12). Oh, and the characters Koshi, Leona and the** **Kiasari family belong to my friend Plejman, and you can also find him and his stories on Deviantart xD**

 **I hope you all enjoy the story :)**

 **Kung Fu Panda – The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

01\. Meeting an old friend (part 1)

A sunny morning was beginning in the Valley of Peace, where the sun illuminated the sky with the beautiful colors of the morning. The landscape was taken by the beautiful color of dawn, where the clouds had a reddish coloring with mixtures of orange and yellow, giving shape to them.

Gradually the valley was brightening. It was quiet and peaceful, without any movement, because everyone was still asleep in their beds. While the sun was lighting up the Valley, a gentle breeze of cool wind passed between houses.

Soon, the gong was about to be sounded, to the citizens of the Valley of Peace wake up, but before that happens, at the Jade Palace I (Liu Zhang) woke up happy and excited.

I quickly get up from my bed throwing the blanket on the floor and drive myself to the window, and with a quick and loud movement open it, then with a big smile, look at the sunrise. Then I took a deep breath to smell the nature and feel the wind blow in my fur.

Even if it took a long time I was living this new life with my mother Master Tigress, the other Furious Five, Po the Dragon Warrior, my grandfather Shifu and my Grandmaster Oogway, whenever I woke up I was happy to know that all what was happening wasn't a dream.

"WOW! What a beautiful day! Bet that today will be a great day! We'll practice kung fu, kick some bad guys's butts and..." I said with excitement giving some punches in the air until interrupted by a long and loud snoring. It was mom (Tigress).

I looked to the side and saw her lying face down, with one arm out of bed and with his knees beneath her belly, making her butt stay face up. I found that very strange, then she snored again.

"Who ate my noodle soup?" she said asleep, then turned sideways to the wall, turning his back to me, and snored again.

"Stop laughing! Who ate it?" it made me laugh. She was probably dreaming of the Secret Ingredient Soup again, but I had never heard she talking while sleeping. I walked over to her bed and shook her with both hands, lightly.

"Mom, wake up! It's already..." before I finished she got sat on her bed startled and stared at me.

"Oh...Good morning, mom!" I said after her reaction.

"Good morning, Liu! Did you sleep well?" She asked me yawning, and I answered yes nodding.

"But after all, why did you get up so early at morning?" she asked looking at the sun rising and realizing that the gong hadn't been sounded.

"Because we went to bed early last night, don't you remember?" I asked.

"No, I just remember having entered the room and lie down to sleep" she replied putting his hand on his forehead, as if he felt some pain.

"Well, actually you didn't lay in bed, you hit the ground! Once we trained, you were very tired and very sleepy, and after supper, you have gone to the bedroom before us, but probably you were so sleepy, that when you were going to lie in your bed, you fell flat on your face!...I think that's why you don't remember!" I said trying not to laugh at my own mother, putting my hand over my mouth to stifle the laugh.

"...But when I woke up I was in my bed" she said without understanding how she came to be lying in bed.

"Po gave me a little help to put you in the bed" I replied. She was quiet for a few seconds once she understood what happened, and then stood up.

"OK! Come on, we have to change clothes, to stay ready to introduce us to your grandfather Master Shifu. Then we can have breakfast."

So I put my green jade top shirt, black trousers and my sandals (one of the first sets that mom gave me). After I finished changing clothes, I looked back to see what clothes my mother had chosen, and I was surprised. She HADN'T changed clothes! She was using the set ever: a red top shirt, black trousers and sandals.

"Mom, wouldn't you change your clothes?" I asked a little confused.

"What are you talking about, Liu? I changed my clothes!" She replied, not seeming to understand why I had asked it.

"Isn't it the same clothes that you were wearing to sleep? And to train...yesterday...and the day before yesterday..." I continued, still not understanding, and even more confusing.

"Of course not! THIS is the outfit I was wearing to sleep" she took with one hand some clothes she had folded, were the clothes that she had worn to sleep, and they were EXACTLY like the ones she was wearing now.

"Whew! Thank goodness...that, ya know right? I thought you wore the same clothes every day" I told her, with a little embarrassment, and placing my hand on the head. However, who was more embarrassed was her.

"Liu...How could you think something like this of your own mother? I change my clothes every day! And besides, I'm not the only one that has many of the same clothes" she said.

"Yes! You are right, as Po, which has many of the same pants, Monkey, Viper too...wait a minute... does she..." I had thought on something somewhat strange, but before I completed, the gong sounded. Mom and I looked at each other, knowing that we had to introduce ourselves to Grandpa Shifu.

"Good morning Master!" we both and the others said together to introduce ourselves, after we went out of our rooms. So we went to the kitchen, to have breakfast.

When we got there, we could feel a delicious smell of a hot food, it was Po, he was finishing preparing his delicious Soup of the Secret Ingredient. So we sat and waited while our Dragon Chef finish preparing it, and when he finished, he put all the soup in porcelain bowls, one for each of us.

The smell and the look of that delicious meal was better than ever. I approached my face a little of the dish, took a deep breath to feel that wondrous smell, and then I licked my lips with mouth watering.

"I think I know why you often have dreams with the Soup of the Secret Ingredient that Po prepares, Mom! No matter how much I eat, I never sick of eat it! It's just...well...DELICIOUS!" I said in a cheerful tone, while I picked up my spoon. That left her with shame, and then she whispered my name in my ear to get my attention, because she thought I shouldn't have spoken about her dreams with her favorite dish.

"Gee, Tigress! You eat it almost every day, and even then, you dream of the soup...this is what I call to like very much a dish!" Monkey said, holding his spoon.

"Well, in a way I understand her! This soup that Po does, is really the best of all!" Viper continued.

"Why, thank you guys! It's good to know that my culinary skills can do something this good for you!" Po said gently, then sat beside me to eat.

"Well, let me see if the soup is as good as ever" I said. I was about to take a spoonful of my soup to prove it, but Po quickly grabbed his spoon and took some of my soup and ate it.

"Yeah...it's really good, Liu!" he said after swallowing the soup.

"Hey! This is my soup, Po!" I exclaimed. Po laughed, but then I smiled and did the same, slowly eating the spoonful that I took from his bowl.

"HEY!" He exclaimed, now staring at me.

"Well, you had started it!" I said.

Then we both looked at each other, smiled, and slowly took our hands to the edges of our bowls; Po and I almost every morning, compete to see who eats the fastest, but he always win, after all, who could beat him at it, but was still a fun others were looking at us because they knew we were going to compete again. So I took my bowl to my mouth to eat the soup it faster, and Po did the same, but he did it so fast and so hard, he played all the soup on his face.

"...Oh Darn!" he said after wiping his eyes full of soup. All of us, including Po, laughed a lot of what happened. Then the Dragon Warrior stood up to clean up the mess he had made.

After he cleaned up the mess, we went back to eating. Master Shifu was the first to finish, and then he gave a message while we still eating.

"After you finish eating, meet me in my room, I need to talk to you about our next mission" he said. That made me curious.

"Should I also go, Shifu?" I asked excitedly.

"I'm sorry, Liu! But not this time, you and Po will not participate in this mission" he replied. That made me a bit upset because I remembered that they had promised me that soon I would have a mission, I couldn't remember exactly when it would be, but it never seemed to arrive.

I continued eating the rest of my soup, now with a sad expression on my face, until I had an idea.

"Hey, Po! Since we will not participate in this mission, what do you think of after we're done eating, go train at the Training Hall together?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, Liu! I can't, I have to help my father in the restaurant today! I had promised that today I would help him" He replied, with a tone of disappointment. That made me even sadder. It would be another entire day doing nothing interesting.

After we all finished eating, the others went to Shifu's room, and I went to the Training Hall to train, to keep me busy. When I got there, I looked around to see every obstacle, and then let out a small sigh of disappointment, I didn't have anyone to train with me. Train with friends is completely different to train alone, but I continued anyway.

Inside the Training Hall was considerably warmer than the other rooms of the Jade Palace, the wind almost don't pass inside there, but the smell of the wood and the weather, left the pleasant environment.

To begin the training, I did a little stretching, then slowly closed my eyes and started doing some tai chi movements. Upon finishing the moves, I got in position to run, directing me to the obstacles. Then I slowly opened my eyes and concentrated on each part of the path I would pass by, took a deep breath and started to count to three to start the training.

"1...2...3...Now...AAAAH!" I screamed, then fell and hit my face on the floor, having tripped over my own feet.

After compose myself, I stood up, took the dust from my clothes and stayed in position again to restart.

"OK, Now I get it! 1...2...3...NOW!" I said, this time running into shot to the first hurdle, the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion (or as I prefer to call: treadmills).

I started running on treadmills to keep from falling, shook my body to steady myself, and with leaps and pirouettes I dodged the Seven-Talon Rings, those chains that bind the rings with thorns that came in my direction.

Then out of there and went to the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom, that big 'bowl' of iron, I did kicks and punches in the air while balancing on its edges.

Then with a somersault backwards, I left the edge of the 'bowl' and ran toward the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors, or just the famous 'iron trees', where one-by-one I did series of kicks and fast punches to advance the obstacle and dodged the wooden arms that spun in circles to hit me; my hands and feet ached with every punch and kick that I did, and I needed to run and move faster at measure that I progressed, was losing my breath slowly, but that wouldn't prevent me from continuing. Soon, I was at the last of them, and ran to the last obstacle, the Field of Fiery Death or simply minefield (sometimes I wonder how long it took to give these kinds of names to things that could have other much more simple).

Where I stepped in it, a flame rise from the ground, what forced me to move with great speed and agility. I dodged the flames passed very close to hit me, and the warmth of them made me feel as if a great fire was around me, but after a lot of practice time, I simply ignored the flames and dodged without being hit.

And so I finally finished the circuit, I gave a backflip and walked away, stopping resting on my knees and one hand on the wooden floor at the end of the Training Hall. I stood up and looked back to see all I had passed, and especially, to celebrate that I completed all the obstacles in a few of seconds. I jumped of excitement.

"YEAH! I completed the circuit! I think I'd never done it so fast and..." I stopped to smell something that seemed to be burning.

I sniffled to feel where the smell was coming from, and ended up looking at the tip of my tail, where a small fire was burning it. I felt my eyes water in pain.

"AAAAAH! MY TAIL!" I screamed.

I ran around all the Training Hall screaming in agony, then stopped to extinguish the fire, held my tail with both hands and blew, but this only worsened the situation, as the fire intensified, causing me even more pain. Then I had another idea, I held my tail with one hand and stuck it in my mouth to extinguish the fire. It worked, and after that, I let out a big sigh of relief and sat down, still with tail in mouth.

"Liu, your mother asked me to warn you that..." Crane came to give me a message, but stopped after seeing me with my tail in my mouth.

"Why are you eating your own tail, Liu?" he asked me then, so I got up quickly and took out my tail of my mouth, spitting the burned fur that was in my mouth.

"I wasn't eating my tail! I had burned it and I couldn't put out the fire, then..." I replied.

"OK, if you say...Well, your mother asked you to not forget that today we are going to the Secret Museum of Kung Fu to check if everything is in order, and you will take care of the Valley, for nothing bad happen! And if anything happens you just have to call Po, he'll be at the restaurant helping Mr. Ping!" he reminded me. The meeting with Master Shifu was to talk about this mission, I didn't remember that was today that they would leave the Valley.

I took a deep breath and gave a big smile looking at him, because I realized that my first real mission would be Today.

"YEAH! I have forgotten that today would be the first time that I will help The Furious Five on a mission! So Cool! Can'n't wait to go to the Valley and defeat some bad guys!" I said cheerfully after a leap of joy. Crane smiled.

"Yeah, I bet it will be a good experience for you, after all, you're one of us now! We are no longer 'The Furious Five', we are 'The Furious Six'! If you want to talk to your mother before we go, she is in the bedroom getting ready to go, Have fun, Liu!" he said, turning to leaving the training hall.

I couldn't contain my happiness inside me, but before I go crazy and run to the room of my mother, I stood standing staring at the door of the Training Hall. When he said 'you're one of us now', I was thrilled and almost let a tear of happiness fall.

"After so long...dreaming about my coming to the Jade Palace, that my mother had adopted me, and after all the times I had to listen to the other children tell me that I would never realize my dreams...I'm finally here...been strong and never give up finally paid off!" I thought. I felt a tightening in my heart.

After that, I gave a big smile, jumped for of happiness and ran to the room lively, to wish mom a good trip and say that she doesn't need to worry about me taking care of everything. Once there, I saw her preparing a backpack.

"Hi mom! I came to wish you a good trip! And don't worry, I'll take care of the Valley" I said, then she turned to see that I was in the room.

"Hi, Liu!" then sighed and continued, "You taking care of the Valley of Peace while me and others are out caused me to remember of me and my brother Tai Lung; one day, Master Shifu and the Grandmaster Oogway had to go to Gongmen City to see the masters Thundering Rhino, Storming Ox and Croc, and they left me and Tai taking care of the Valley of Peace. That was an unforgettable day, even more than had been my second mission and along with my brother" she said, recalling the moments with her brother.

"Wow! So Cool! But...if this was the second, which was your first mission, mom?"

"My first mission was perhaps my most terrifying and agonizing of all!" she said as I listened enthusiastically.

"It was: organizing all the thousand scrolls of kung fu in order on the shelves! sigh* My brother and I were looking for a scroll, when he suddenly decided to play catch-up with me, and we both hit on the shelves and dropped against all the thousand scrolls. So we had by all in order again" she continued, still remembering the past with her brother.

At the time she said it discouraged me a bit, because if the second mission had already been amazing, I thought the first would be even more, but I kept listening intently.

"Come on! We have to go, and I imagine you are wanting to go to the Valley as soon as possible. Ah! And don't forget Liu: If anything goes wrong, call Po, he'll be..." I interrupted.

"In Mr. Ping's restaurant, Crane already told me mom! And don't worry! I'll take care of everything" I said.

"Yeah...that's what I'm afraid!" she joked, looking at me, and we both laughed.

She finished packing the things for the trip, then grabbed her backpack and we headed up to meet with others, in the exit of the palace. To play around a bit, my mom challenged me.

"Liu...I bet you can't arrive in the Valley before me!" she said quickly, running down the stairs.

"Hey! It's not fair! You first came out!" I exclaimed, now also running.

"It will be ME who will get there first!" Po said now running. Others also liked the idea and began running.

I started significantly increasing my speed, the incline of the stairway helped me a lot, and soon I was side by side to my mother. We both ran side by side, then we could spot the end of the staircase. Although the others are also going pretty fast, and Crane had the advantage of being able to fly, it was me or my mother that would win.

Until we hear Po screaming.

"Out of the way, I'm coming!" we both look back.

"WHAT?" we exclaimed together. Po was rolling down the stairs, almost tripping over the others that were behind us, he was speeding, almost reaching us. I quickened my pace even more, but my mother has further accelerated and came roaring while she jumped to the 'finish line'. She stopped with her back to the stairs, and then celebrated that she had won.

"YES! I..."

"MOTHER! GET OUT OF PO'S WAY!" I exclaimed, she looked back and saw Po rolling toward her, but she was unable to swerve and they rolled together few feet away, until they stop. Po eventually stopped lying on his back on my mother, who also had her back, with her stomach turned to the ground.

"NO! I was going to win,I just lost because you cheated, cheater! Not cool, Tigress! Not cool!" Po said, still on her.

"PO! Could you take out your butt of my head...and QUIT off of me...before you turn me into a PANCAKE? ...Then we discussed about it!" she said in answer, breathlessly. Po then realized that he was crushing her and hurried out of her, and mom then stood up breathless.

"Okay, as I was saying..." Po continued after she raised. I laughed softly, so they shouldn't hear.

Then, everyone was already in the Valley, and it was time to say goodbye. Po and I said our goodbyes and wished the others a good trip, then we saw them moving away from the Valley and go toward the mission, after it, Po also said goodbye to me and went to the restaurant to help his father.

As he walked away I jumped of hapiness.

"YEAH! Now my mission finally start! AWESOME! What should I do first?" I said. I was so excited that I didn't even know where should I to start by.

I looked around to decide in which direction I should follow. I gave a full lap and saw several citizens going to the trade area, and I remembered that had already made some days that I didn't see my friend Zhi Tsugumi ("Tuggsy"), so I decided to make a visit to him and his family.

During the way I saw several traders trying to sell their products. It was an eventful day, almost all of the Valley were there, probably because of the curiosity to know the diversities of products of new traders who had come from other cities.

When I got to the stall in which Tuggsy worked, I stood at the counter watching him work. He was counting coins to see how much he had earned with the sales, before closing for lunch.

"Hello! Can you serve me?" I said squeezing the bell on counter by pretending to be a customer.

"Sorry, we'll have to close for lunch, but if you want to come back in an hour..." he stopped as he turned and saw that it was I who had asked.

"Ah! Hi Liu! Wow, long time no see! Glad you decided to leave a little of the Jade Palace to visit your friends!" he said with happiness in reviewing his friend, coming toward the counter.

"Yes, I was there this long because I was training to improve my skills and get stronger! Now that I am part of the Furious Five, or rather now the SIX FURIOUS, I have to be prepared for the adventures that await me" I told him, while doing some kung fu moves.

"Well, and what exactly stopped the training of great Jade?" He joked.

"If I tell you will not believe...but I'll tell anyway. My mother and others had to leave the Valley because of a new mission, and since the Dragon Warrior Po Ping is busy in the restaurant, do you know who will take care of the Valley of Peace?" I asked ironically.

"Mr. Ping?" He said jokingly, and we both laughed at the joke.

"No! ME, Liu 'The Jade' Zhang! The newest member of the Furious Six!" I told enthusiastically.

"Cool! But if the Dragon Warrior will be at the restaurant with Mr. Ping, then who will help you to protect the Valley?" he asked me as he headed to the bag of coins that he was counting.

"NOBODY! I'll take care of the Valley Alone! Isn't it going to be amazing?!" I replied cheerfully. Then Tuggsy stood motionless with the bag of coins, making a face of astonishment, and then turned to me.

"WHAT? You will not have the help of the Dragon Warrior? So...you mean you'll have to protect the Valley of all the vilains and robbers by your own?" he asked to confirm what I had said.

"Yes...I think that's what I meant with 'I'll take care of the Valley alone', huh?" I said ironically.

"WOW! This will be AWESOME! I can't believe they let you do this! It's your first mission, and even then it's already something of this level..." he said exaltedly when realized what I was doing.

"I know! I also had this reaction when I found out. I bet this black panther will set off all the bad guys!" I said, making a few punches in the air.

"I bet too, 'Jade'! And I know a snow leopard that is starving!" Tuggsy said referring to himself, placing his hand on the belly while it snored.

"So what do you think if we go to Mr. Ping's restaurant to eat some Noodle Soup?" I asked.

"Of course yes! Thank you! And let's go fast! I'm starving!" he replied, making we both laugh.

Once Tuggsy closed the stall, we went to the restaurant. In the way, I realized that he was working alone, what it is kind of weird, because he always works with his parents.

"Huh, Tuggsy, why your parents were not working with you in the stall? Did Something happen?" I asked worried about the health of the family of my friend.

"No, thank god! They are renovating our home, and for not slowing down the accounts, I offered to come to work alone, while they keep working at home!" he told me with pride and a smile on his face by the attitude he took.

"Nice! It's so cute of your part, to make it for them! So apparently it seems I'm not the only one in the first mission" I praised.

"I wouldn't say it is a mission, because it's more than my obligation to help them, and also it's nothing extraordinarily difficult. But if you are saying..." he replied.

Then we got to the restaurant, where we saw Po and Mr. Ping cooking. While Mr. Ping was cutting the vegetables, Po was making some delicious noodle, which he ate some before his father see.

I asked to Tuggsy to stay keeping a place for us, while I went to the counter to ask for the noodle soups.

"Hi Po! Hi Mr. Ping! How are you?" I greeted when I arrived, and they both greeted together in response.

"So Liu, what do you think of your first mission?" Po asked as he continued preparing the noodles.

"It's simply Awesome! I just think what it's a pity that I'm not doing anything until now, no bad guys, villains..." I replied.

"How can you think this is bad, Liu! The important thing is that the Valley is in peace, isn't it?" Mr. Ping asked.

"It's not that, Mr. Ping, I meant that since it's my first mission, I expected more than just walking from one side to the other" I explained.

"I understand you, Liu. But I think you shouldnt worry about it, with all these traders from outside, I bet that they will need a very expecial attention, cuz probably something will eventually happen, keep your eyes open!" Po told me.

"Well, it's lunchtime and I would love that delicious noodle soup that you make, could you make me two bowls, please?" I asked, already salivating.

"Wow, looks like someone is hungry!" Mr. Ping joked.

"It is not only for me, my friend will have lunch with me" I said with a bit of shame.

"OH! Looks like we are going to have a romantic lunch here, huh" he continued, making me even more ashamed.

"It's not what you are thinking Mr. Ping, he's just a friend of mine! And we just decided to have lunch together" I explained.

"OK! Anyway, I'll bring to you the two soups soon" Po said looking at me in an ironic way.

I returned to the table with Tuggsy, and I was very ashamed because of the conversation I had. He didn't understand why I was like that, but he stayed quiet. After a few minutes, Po was coming to our table to bring our request, but stopped and stared Tuggsy from afar, who had his back to the Po. He then gave a big smile of happiness and came running towards us beating his belly on the other customers, then quickly left the two soups at our table and gave him a hug, squeezing Tuggsy against his belly and chest with all his strength of Dragon Warrior, and then exclaimed quickly while spinning.

"PENG! Good to see you buddy! I thought I'd never see you here in the Valley of Peace since that day you said you were leaving kung fu forever, and went away and..." Po stopped spinning as he opened his eyes and saw the clients looking at the mess that he had made, lots of food scattered on the floor, and a poor rabbit lady who ended her noodles on her head, then looked at who he was hugging and saw that wasn't who he thought, and dropped him, making him fall on his back.

"Oh no! Look what you made with our customers, son!" Mr. Ping said a bit angry, and then helped the customers, and apologize.

"Sorry ,father! Sorry, folks! And sorry...I thought you were someone I knew" Po apologized to everyone and then with Tuggsy.

"...Ouch! It is also a pleasure to finally meet you in person...Dragon Warrior..." he said breathlessly, making the reverence with hands still lying. I got up from the chair and helped him to stand up, and then we sat down, and Po sat down with us to chat while we ate lunch.

"What's your name, kid?" Po asked.

"My name is Zhi Tsugumi, but my friends call me 'Tuggsy'!" he said.

"Sorry again...you really look like a friend of mine, and I thought you were him" Po apologized again.

"No problem!" he smiled.

"By the way, who is this guy called Peng that you confused with Tuggsy?" I asked while my mouth still full.

"Peng is a friend I've known for a long time, he was a kung fu genius, getting to be as good as us, or even better. Then we found out that he was Tai Lung's nephew and he was looking for his uncle, but he eventually discovered what happened and got furious, then tried to destroy me, the Five and Shifu. He nearly succeeded, with the help of a powerful medallion that increased his skills and strength, but by being a boy of good-hearted, when I showed him how Tai Lung really was, and why I had to kill him, Peng decided not follow the path of his uncle. However, this powerful medallion he'd used, show the bad side of those who wore it, and Peng said he saw his great ambition for power, then decided to quit kung fu forever, so then he could not hurt anyone, and left the Valley" Po explained to us remembering everything that had happened.

"Wow! I can't believe that a kid has almost overcome you! After all you guys are so good, and he was just one!" said Tuggsy, impressed about what Po said.

"Neither do I! His skills should be Amazing! It's a shame that someone with so much talent has given up kung fu and gone" I continued.

"Well, actually, after a while, I saw him again, and he had not only returned to practice kung fu, as had also Improve his skills!" Po said.

"But you said he had given up kung fu and gone out of the Valley ... so what has changed, causing him to come back?" Tuggsy asked.

"Once he found out that he shouldn't be afraid to use kung fu for good, he devoted his time to teach the legendary art of kung fu in his own public schools, because he realized that it was only the great warriors who mastered this art, while the other people depended of these same to defend them, so then he taught them how to defend themselves! So his idea spread throughout China, and now he travels around the country to open these schools, so everyone will learn the art of kung fu" Po told us.

"WOW! Amazing! He is not only a kung fu genius, but also very smart! It's just a shame that he had to go, doesn't it? He must be a great friend of yours" I said impressed, and trying to comfort Po.

"Yeah...it's really a shame...sigh* But the important thing is that he is happy doing what does!" Po said a little sad, because the longing for his friend.

After we finish lunch, we both said our goodbyes to the Dragon Warrior and Mr. Ping, and left the restaurant. Then Tuggsy and I said our goodbyes too, 'cause he needed to take care of the stall, and I finally would start my adventure of taking care of the Valley of Peace by my own.

I climbed on the roof of a house to have a wider field of vision, I looked around, but I saw any danger. Then as time went by I just walked through the Valley from one side to the other.

An hour had passed since then, and there was still no thug or villain for me to defeat. I started to get bored, but nothing that prevented me from continuing with my mission.

Another hour passed, and since nothing bad was happening, I decided to go to Tuggsy's stall to talk with him again. On the way, I was so bored that I must have started to get distracted, so I didn't see a rock on my path and stumbled, falling flat on my face. Luckily there weren't many people around to see what had happened.

"Darn! This boredom is making me so distracted that I even stumbled across a wretched rock! Ouch...!" I grumbled with myself and then put a hand on my nose because of the pain.

"Are you okay?" someone asked me. I looked around to see who had asked me, and I ended up driving my look to a stall with a vendor who was wearing a straw hat to protect from the sun, which doesn't let the face appear, he was selling lots of things related to martial arts, such as gloves, wooden nunchucks, tracks, and even training shurikens made of wood. But what I found odd was the one who was selling, was Tuggsy!

"Why are you here?" I asked him, confused.

"I'm...selling products for martial arts training, madam!" he replied, making me laugh out loud.

"Madam? By chance, am I old enough to be called 'Madam', 'sir'?" I joked and laugh again, he replied with a friendly smile.

"But tell me, why you are working in this tent and not on yours?" I asked.

"But this is my stall!" he replied.

"Cool! So to get even more money, you decided to open up other stall?" I asked again.

"What other stall? What are you talking about?" he asked seeming not to understand, but I thought it was another joke as 'madam'.

"Veeery funny, Tuggsy! Now, can you answer me?" I continued.

"But...my name isn't Tuggsy!" he said, I found this very strange.

"Yes, I know your name is Zhi Tsugumi, but your nickname is Tuggsy, isn't it? You're weird, did something happened?" I inquired.

But before he could speak, I heard a loud crashing noise of stalls more ahead on the trade area of the Valley.

"Oh no! Wait here Tuggsy! We talked about it later, now I have to see what is happening" I said going toward the noise I heard. He tried to say something again, but I didn't understand what was.

Arriving where all the noise was being made, I stopped running, sliding a bit in the direction that I ran, then I saw what was happening.

My heart raced and my eyes widened bout what I saw: Gorilla Bandits! Huge gorillas destroying the trade area. There were TEN of them together, okay I'm not exactly high (I am a little taller than the monkey, he is at the height of my shoulders), but seeing all those gorillas who had the triple of my height was really scary. They were all in armor with a lead color, which had a shoulder on the right shoulder, and chest.

They were not only destroying everything as they were also stealing the products from all vendors. While a half stole and destroyed, the other put the products in a large wooden cart they had with them. But what worried me even more, was that those who were stealing had huge axes, extremely sharp, they were using to destroy the stalls they stole.

The adrenaline rose up to my limit, I felt a great amount of energy inside me that seemed to explode, and then I took courage to act before they were successful. Firmly squeezed my eyes staring at them, closed my fists and went into position to fight, the same as my mother, Tigress.

"Hey, big guys! You are not going anywhere with these things!" I yelled to get their attention. Everyone looked at me, then gave a small laugh.

"And Who exactly is going to stop us? A weak little girl like you?!" the gorilla who was closer to me said sarcastically. That made me a little angry, making me squeeze my eyes even more.

"If you think I am weak, then why don't you come here to taste the wrath of my fist?! Or are you afraid to lose?" I teased. This infuriated him and made him growl loudly, then he started to come towards me.

"Hey, Idiot! What you gonna do? We have work that needs to be done! Don't delay us because of a little girl!" said the other gorillas, trying to prevent him from coming to me.

"Don't worry! I'll end this quickly!" he said still coming towards me with his huge ax, holding it with both hands. When he was close enough to hit me with his ax, he rose it to hit me with all his strength of gorilla, while I sat motionless in my fighting stance staring at him.

He, with a fast and aggressive movement, tried to hit me, but I dodged the ax to my left holding it in it's wooden handle with both hands, causing him to hit the ground; then took a big leap toward the face of the gorilla bandit, giving a powerful kick to his chin with a backflip, causing him to fall back on the floor passed out. When finished the backflip, I fell on both feet and one hand, beside my opponent now on the floor.

The other gorillas were impressed that I had knocked one of their colleagues with a single blow. I went back to look at them. One of them frowned and let out a great roar.

"Let's get this cheeky! ATTACK!" one of them ordered, running towards me with other three gorillas.

So I ran towards them too. The first tried to hit me with his ax using a side cutting from left to right, trying to hit my head. With a quick movement, I slipped on my knees and bend the body backwards, I dodged the ax while going towards my opponent. I got up and gave a kick with my left leg on his belly, causing him to bend, so I gave a big jump, hit him with a right punch on his chin and still in the air, gave a rotational kick with the right leg. This caused him to turn and fall flat on his face.

After I fell, I continued running towards the third gorilla. He came running towards me with his ax in one hand, and approaching me enough to attack, lifted the ax and tried to hit me with a diagonal cut from top to bottom. To defend myself, I made a quick move, leaving my two arms next to each other, and placed them in front of my body, so I blocked the blow, because the wooden handle of the ax hit my arms. Because of my defense, the ax ended up going in the other direction, leaving my opponent completely defenseless. I closed my fists, steadied my balance, threw my right fist back, and gave a powerful punch on his stomach. The blow was so strong that he rolled onto his back several feet away at high speed and crashed into two other gorillas, knocking both.

"STRIKE!" I thought.

Now that half of the bandits were already defeated, the other gorillas who were putting the bags on the big wooden cart looked at me astonished.

I left the position that I used to do the punch, crossed my arms, smiled and looked at the gorillas bandits who were now frightened.

"What is it? Are you afraid of a little girl who is only 14, boys?" I asked for them sarcastically, avenging myself of the joke they had done with me. They groaned in fear, then quickly finished filling the cart. One of them began to pull the cart, which now had several bags of product inside, and the others ran as fast as they could.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE! RUN!" the gorilla that was pulling the cart shouted, also rushing out of the Valley.

They ran down the dirt road leading into the forest of bamboo. It was very dense, when you looked at it, you could only see more and more bamboo, seemed endless when you looked inside, so we can easily get lost in it if you don't pay attention. Knowing this, the gorilla bandits attempted their escape by the road that followed inside this forest.

Without they know it, I followed them. They were in a defensive position, where the gorila that was with the cart, sat in the middle, while two were in the front and two behind.

The two who were behind, looked back still running, to see if they were not being followed. By looking, they only saw the dirt road and the forest of bamboo.

"I think we lost her, guys!" one said. They all laughed, thinking they had escaped the situation.

"Excuse me! Could you go a little slower? We are staying far from the Valley and, you know, I have to take this with me and..." I said playing with the gorilla who was leading the cart, scaring him. I was sitting cross-legged on the top of bags of products and with the hands on my knees, until, due to fright, the gorilla bandit suddenly stopped the cart, causing me to spin in the air going in his direction.

After I complete a full turn in the air, I stretched my left leg to kick and hit him squarely on his back, flinging him several meters away and I fell standing in front of the cart.

I looked back and saw the gorillas who were behind the cart coming toward me. They gave a great roar, the two closed their fists, raised them and both tried to hit me at the same time in my head.

I quickly took a back somersault to climb into the wooden cart. Then both went to each side of it, and I realized that I would be attacked from both sides.

Before they attack, went into a fighting stance, pushing my legs a little to the side to steady my base, and shrugged my arms at waist height, so I didn't get my back to them, and could defend myself from both sides faster.

They attacked together. In the first strike, one of them tried to hit my head, and the other in my chest, so I dodged leaning my body forward, and I got between the arms of both. In the second blow, just the gorilla that was in my right attacked, trying to give me a right punch, but I swerved, and when the punch had passed me by completely, I threw my left arm back to give momentum and punched him in the nose, making him go back. At the third stroke, the gorilla who was on my left tried to hit me with the same scam on my belly, so when his arm came up to me, I kicked it, causing him to pull away, I took advantage of the momentum of my effort to give it a whirl without going anywhere and stretched my leg, kicking him in the chest, this left him breathless.

Both while groaning in pain, stared at me and then roared with rage. Then came running toward the wooden cart to try to hit me. Again, the two tried to hit me with a right punch, each targeting on one side of my face. Using a quick move, I jumped before they could hit me, but they continue it, punching on each other, and fell back on the floor, passed out.

"Cowards! Two big guys like you attacking a 'poor little girl' like me! I didn't expect such an attitude, guys!" I said jokingly as I looked at the two.

"Now we got you!" said another gorilla. The voice seemed to be very close, so I opened my eyes scared, and turned to see where were the last two gorillas. They were standing behind me!

They tried to grab me with both arms, but I quickly jumped between they with a somersault, and then made another to back off a little more. I got up and took a deep breath.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! Are you trying to scare me and make me have heart attack or something?!" I grumbled because of the scare they gave me.

"Why would we want to make you die of a heart attack..." the right said.

"If we can TAKE IT from you and eat for dinner without salt" the left continued. This made me a bit nauseous and grimaced in disgust.

"Yuck! Dude...really...that's DISGUSTING!" I replied.

"I prefer salted, but that does not matter!" the one on the right said.

"Well, if you want to take my heart to eat it for dinner without salt...Yuck!...You'll have to defeat me first!" I exclaimed and grimaced again.

They then advanced running towards me. When they got close, I jumped to the right to run away from them, heading towards the bamboo forest, but I still in the dirt road. Both were in front of me, but while one of them stood at a distance, the other advanced to try to beat me.

I stood in front of a tall, thick bamboo, and crossed my arms. The gorilla bandit tried to give me several punches.

"Wrong...wrong...wrong...wrong...wrong...oops you wrong again, ape!" I was saying and then I laughed, while he was trying to hit me with his punches, but I dodged all, ducking myself and moving toward the sides. He got very angry with this, then let out a big growl and tried to hit me with another punch, but I quickly jumped to the side, making him hit the bamboo that was behind me.

The bamboo broke where he had hit, and fell toward him. The gorilla that was fighting with me quickly got out of the way, but the other who was watching by distance didn't move, and the bamboo hit his head, making him faint.

The last gorilla bandit looked at his friend who had just fainted and then stared at me.

I got into a position to fight again, leaving my right leg behind my body, right arm at waist height and my left arm straight in front of me.

"You may have defeated all my colleagues, but I won't let you defeat me so easily!" he said, then slammed both fists against his chest, and came into a position to fight; he put his left leg behind his body, put the right arm above his head and stretched his left arm.

We stared at each other and shook our eyes. At that moment, I could feel a gentle breeze passing across the dirt road, it knocked lightly on my fur, and its sound echoed through the forest of bamboo. While nothing actually happened, I thought why exactly that gorilla bandit was so confident, since I had defeated all his friends, how could he think that he would be able to defeat me alone.

Then I noticed that on his right arm had a red band with a symbol of a dragon of fire. This meant that surely he had been a student of the Lee Da Kung Fu Academy, a kung fu academy where only great prodigies of kung fu could enter (it was where Crane had learned kung fu before going to the Jade Palace, he had told me once about this place and how his friend May Ling helped him learn to have selfconfidence).

Soon, when the breeze stops, we run toward each other. I tried to strike the first blow, jumping up in the air going towards him, lifting my left leg to kick him in the face. But despite being a quick blow, when I was very close to him, he turned his head to the right, and when almost all my body had passed him, he grabbed the leg that I had used to kick him with his left hand. Then he spin while still holding me, causing me to spin along with him, made me get over him and then with all his strength threw me on the floor making me hit my back, but still holding me.

When I hit the ground, my body let a small mark on it and a bit of smoke rose, not to mention the huge pain that I felt.

I groaned in pain, and then he, with another spin, threw me into the forest, making me somersaulting backwards several feet away from him, until I stopped when I beat in a bamboo, stopping sitting.

"Ouch! This guy was not kidding when he said that I wouldn't defeat him easily!" I said to myself, putting my right hand on the back to relieve the pain.

"Now you will see what actually means pain, little girl!" he said to me, walking towards my direction.

He came to me and then grabbed me by the collar, lifting me off the ground with one hand and lifted me above the height of his head, with my body loose and swinging.

"Do you really think you can defeat a gang of gorillas without anyone's help, your cheeky?" he laughed, thinking he had won the battle.

"I...don't think I can...I KNOW I can!" I yelled, reeling from the pain. So I stretched my arms leaving them above my head, gathered my hands, and with a strong blow, hit them in the gorilla's forearm, making him to stop holding me. This made him cry out in pain and walk away from me, holding the arm that I had struck.

I took the chance that he wouldn't use one arm, and left for the attack to defeat the last gorila bandit. I ran towards him, and when he turned I made a series of blows on him. I started with lots of quick punches of left and right, rising from the belly to the chest, making him bend forward, then kicked with my left leg while I leaned on the right, one on his chest and another in the face; then I jumped up and hit his chin with my knee, making him go back a bit, and finally, I've tripped him with a spin without moving, supporting myself on the left leg while the right leg hit his heel with the spin, making him fall backwards.

He slowly got up to sit, and with much pain, he tried to catch his breath. I crossed my arms and stood in front of him, looking at him with a little smile.

When he looked at me, his eyes widened as if he was terrified. At that moment I stopped quickly to think of one thing that disturbed me: even though he was sat, he was taller than me standing. Whenever I'm around someone taller than me, I feel somewhat embarrassed. I hope that when I'm older, I don't continue being small, and be at least the height of my mother or a little more.

After that, I threatened him before he could regain his breath.

"Now prepare yourself, monkey! I'll give you the two last blows of mercy!" I said. That made him even more scared.

"No! Please not! Have mercy on me...Couldn't It be...just one blow?" he pleaded while shaking with fear.

I then closed my eyes still smiling, and started doing some tai chi, without going anywhere, using only my arms. So I got into a position to fight, putting my right arm behind the body at the height of my head, left arm stretched in front of my body, dragged the right leg back and put the left in front.

I then opened my eyes slowly, staring at the frightened gorilla.

"TAKE THAT!" I yelled before giving my blow. I threw my right arm forward with all my strength and speed, to give a very powerful punch on his face. The movement was so fast that I could feel the wind be cut, and go through my arm.

The gorilla closed his eyes and moaned with fear, but then opened them after only feel the wind pass on his face, and see that my right fist was only close to his nose.

I then laughed softly, with the fist still in front of his nose.

"Got Your Nose!" I said, picking his nose with the hand that was on his face, using my thumb and forefinger, and squeezed tightly twisting it to the side. This made him cry out in pain and put his hand on the nose soon after.

"Ouch! My nose! You'll pay for that, you insolent brat!" he complained of what I had done to mock him, and in pain, tried to get up slowly.

"And now, the SECOND blow of mercy!" I said, running a great distance down the dirt road to get away from him. Then I stopped running, sliding forward slightly when I tried to stop, and ran again, this time toward the gorilla bandit who was still trying to get up.

Still a few feet from him, I jumped up high giving several twirls while still going forward, then stopped spinning and stretched my leg to kick him. I was speeding during flight, as well as the first 'blow of mercy', but this time I could feel the air go through my entire body, through the legs, up through my body and through my face.

He was on his knees while I was doing my powerful kick and headed in his direction, he was looking very confident out, what worried me, but I continued with my movement.

"This time I'm really going to hit you, villain! TAKE THAT!" I told him while I was approaching.

He stood quickly, and clasped his hands in the form of 'spoon', he intended to throw me in the air, as if I was a volleyball.

When I realized this, I also realized that I couldn't dodge, and HE WOULD HIT ME.

"TASTE THE FURY OF MY FEET, VILLAIN!" I heard someone yell soon followed.

It was Po! He came running towards the gorilla bandit, with the same idea as me. After running a bit, he jumped up and used the same kick as me.

He stretched his leg in the air while 'flying' to do the kick, and in that instant, the gorilla bandit looked at him, still not moving. But unlike me, Po took just a little boost to run the flying kick and fell on the floor, stopping less than a meter from the gorilla. Po groaned in pain and then looked at the bandit, who also looked at him, making a face of who didn't understand what had happened.

"Well...it didn't happen exactly how I thought" he said, lying on the floor.

As the gorilla bandit looked at Po, I just continued with my kick, and prang him in the face, making him flying several feet away, hitting his back on a bamboo and fainting. Still in the air, I did a backflip and landed standing beside Po.

I looked at him with a smile, proud that I had won of all those bandits gorillas ALONE! I could barely contain my happiness for my accomplishment. But I saw he was a little mad at me when I looked at him, he was staring straight at me, it made me gradually stop smiling, and feel even a little fear.

"What's wrong Po? Is...something...wrong?" I asked.

"If something's wrong?...OF COURSE THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG!" he said furiously, changing his tone suddenly out, what scared me even more.

"B-but...I don't understand! I just beat a whole gang of gorillas alone, and saved the products of the sellers...why are you so angry?" I asked.

"It's just that, Liu! You defeated them Alone! This was very dangerous, you could get hurt in a very serious way! Weren't you told that if anything happened, you should call me in the restaurant?" Po told me still pretty angry.

"Y-yes, but I saw them destroying the trade area and stealing all those products, and if I didn't do something fast they would have escaped, and..." I tried to explain, but Po interrupted me.

"Liu, I would even understand you, but IF this had happened with a simple villain or two, or even with the Croc Bandits...but NOT with a GANG OF GORILLAS! And were TEN of them! Imagine if I were not here to help?" he questioned me.

"I-I know...I'm sorry, I...wait a minute! What are you talking about? I beat them all! You just helped me to distract the last of them..." I said to him, changing my expression of shame for a doubtful expression.

After I said this, Po crossed his arms and turned to face me. It made me feel a shiver down my spine, I had never seen him like this, and to see him with a serious attitude like that and giving me a scolding was just creepy. While I was looking into his eyes, I felt as if his gaze was freezing me, and I was still for a few seconds.

Po then bent himself forward still with arms crossed, being at the same height as me, and leave his face very close to mine. So I could see the icy stare and his angry face closely. I was so scared, that I could feel a bit of sweat trickling down my forehead. Then he said quietly.

"Exactly! You didn't need my help...And it is AWESOME!" he exclaimed loudly, quickly changing his aggressive expression to one of excitement.

After he said this, I could feel such a relief, that I almost fell backwards, then I put my hand on my forehead to wipe the sweat, and let out a small sigh of relief. Then he said quickly.

"I can't believe that in your First mission, you defeated a whole gang of gorillas! And they were TEN! This is Amazing, and you didn't let them take the goods. Liu...I'm...really impressed..." he stopped talking gradually, after seeing that it was I who was now with a serious look.

"What? Is...something wrong?" he asked then.

"OF COURSE, PO! You appear out of nowhere, gave me an scolding, stares at me in a creepy way...are you trying to scare me to death? I was starting to think you'd hit me!" I explained to him why I was angry.

"Why would I hit you, Liu? You are my friend! I never hit on a friend of mine. I'm sorry if I scared you, but it wasn't my intention, it is because you gave me a fright when I heard you were fighting with a gang of gorillas, and...you know...I didn't expect you were really going to beat them all alone and..." he explained.

"It's okay Po! I understand your concern. Thank you!" I said. Then we smiled at each other.

"OH! Come here my favorite kung fu master! You don't know how much I'm proud of you! Can't wait to tell everything to Master Shifu, the Five and to your mother!" Po said, after giving me a hug and twirling along with me, then laughed together.

Then Po tied the gorillas bandits who were in the bamboo forest with a rope, and left them in the middle of the dirt road, so he could come back and pick them up later. Then he picked up the wooden cart that was with the bags of goods inside, and we went together back to the Valley.

The way was now very calm, the wind that passed was quite refreshing, the forest was quiet, and the only sounds that could be heard were the ones that me and Po were doing.

Along the way, Po and I were talking, he had asked me what I was finding my first day in a mission, and how I had defeated all those gorillas bandits. I told him everything and then I asked about his 'mission' in the kitchen with his father, he laughed and then told me he had done nothing different except for having downed a whole bowl of noodles at the head of his father, Mr. Ping, this also made me laugh.

After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at the Valley of Peace. We were heading towards the trade area, to return the products to their rightful owners, but when we got there, something strange surprises us. No one was in the area of trade. No seller or customer.

"N-no way! Where are the gorilla bandits?" Po questioned.

"What are you talking about, Po?" I asked, not understanding why he said that.

"Before I go looking for you, I had tied the five gorillas bandits who were here in the area of trade, ... but they are GONE!" Po explained, glancing from side to side to see if he could find where were the gorillas bandits.

"But...if they were tied...then who released them?" I asked, having no idea who could have done that.

We continue looking at the area of trade, until we felt a little shaking on the ground, as if an army was marching close to us, and these steps made a loud and in sync sound. We also heard the sound of metal hitting along with the steps, as if they were blades rattling. Then suddenly the noise stopped, and we knew that was coming from behind us.

Po and I widened our eyes in fear, and we turned to see what was behind us making that noise. When we turn, we were surprised about what was making all that noise.

Were the same gorillas who I had defeated! All the ten! They were near the trade area, staring at us with very angry faces, then they stood next to each other and started laughing in a sarcastic way.

"So you came back to play some more, huh" I said distance.

"Can I join in the fun this time, Jade?" Po asked me joking.

"Okay! I'll defeat the right half and the left half is yours!" I continued to joke.

But something was wrong, the gorillas didn't even entered in position to fight when we say that, in fact, they even seemed to not be linking to our presence, such that one of them was scratching his nose after we said that. The gorilla who had been a student of the Lee Da Kung Fu Academy, that was more ahead of the others, laughed and spoke.

"If each of you wanna divide the work half-and-half, then who is going to take care of this one here?" he said, looking back.

Then we felt several tremors, were steps again. Then to our amazement, we saw someone who apparently should be the boss of the gang.

He was another gorilla, but this was about a meter and a half higher than the other. He had big muscles that were well defined, wore a black headband covering his left eye, and unlike the other gorillas, he was wearing armor that had a big chest and protections that covered all for the legs and arms, all made of iron, and the only part that had no armor was his head.

Po and I had to look up so we could look in the eyes of that giant. His presence was downright scary, not only because he was very tall and strong, but also 'cause he was growling loudly while moving.

Then he stopped in front of his henchmen and roared loudly, repeatedly beating on his chest, which made his henchmen vibrate.

"So you are the two who are messing in my business! I can't understand how, since you are just a teddy bear and a frightened kitten!" he said, laughing with his henchmen.

What he said made me and Po angry. Then Po said.

"Really? But know that this teddy bear and this...frightened...kitten..." Po stopped talking, after looking at me and see my face of indignation at him, because he insulted both of us without even realizing it. And then I continued.

"If you really think that we are not able to defeat you, then Prove that you are right!" I said to the gorila boss, and now me and Po entered in position to fight.

"Bring it on!" he answered us, walking a few feet in our direction and crossing his arms.

Po scampered toward the gorilla boss, while I initially watched from a distance. The giant enemy still advancing slowly until he stopped and stood standing. Frighteningly, he even went into position to fight, and just let the Dragon Warrior get closer.

Po then gave a strong punch on his belly, but the enemy didn't move, the powerful gorilla's armor, didn't let he felt the blow.

The villain laughed of Po's pain. Then, using the top part of the forearm, and with a movement from the bottom up, he took a blow in Po's face, making him fly several meters away and stop beside me, lying face down.

I looked at the Po quickly, and then kept looking at the gorilla boss.

"What is it? The frightened kitten will not attack me? Too bad...so I think I'm who is going to have to go up there to destroy you!" he said ironically to me, and then laughed along with his henchmen.


	2. Chapter 1 (part 2)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

01\. Meeting an old friend (part 2)

After that I was even angrier, then squeezed my eyes and shut my fists, and ran into a run toward him. And when I got close, he tried to punch me right in my belly. When his fist came near me, I saw how big was his fist, it was almost the size of my entire torso, a punch of those, and for sure I'd have a big problem.

But I went faster and jumped over his arm, stopping over his forearm and balancing myself on both feet. Then he threw his arm up, eventually making me be thrown ten meters above.

After that, I gave several pirouettes and stayed upside down, stretching both arms in the same direction as the body. So I would try to do a double-punch on him, while I was falling.

But the gorilla boss must have understood my intention, and looking up, took a few steps back, leaving the radius where I could hit him, so I let out a quick cry of despair and fell flat on my face, then I was lying face down.

I didn't know if I should moan in pain, or laugh the situation. It happened so fast that I didn't quite understand. I then lifted up my head, and looked at the gorilla boss, I could only see his feet (very big feet). He walked over, grabbed me by the back of my neck and lifted me up to the height of his head, lifting me completely off the ground.

I felt like my spine was being broken due to his colossal strength. I tried to free myself, using my hands and swinging my legs, but without sucess. He then threw me against the wall of a house that was next, with a very rapid and strong movement, I flew in high speed toward it and not even had time to scream.

When I hit the wall, a bit of dust rose and some bricks fell because I was stuck where I hit. Then I left the hole in the wall where I was, and put my hand on my back, in pain.

My legs were wobbly, I could barely open my left eye, and suddenly felt a little trouble breathing. I couldn't understand it, I train every day since I started to live in the Jade Palace, take several blows while training with others but I always keep fighting, and now with just one mistake of mine and a single blow of him, I was feeling as if I was almost defeated. His strength was unbelievably colossal.

The gorilla boss came walking towards me to keep fighting.

"Let's finish this once for all!" he said still walking, then threw back his arm to give more power to the punch he wanted to hit me.

When the punch was at less than one meter to hit me, I closed my eyes, but without need, because without we both realizing it, Po stood between me and the fist to defend me, using both hands to prevent the hit.

"I...won't...let you...touch her!" Po said, trying hard to not let the punch reach us.

"Don't make me laugh, teddy bear! Do you really think that you can defeat me with mine armor?" the gorilla boss asked scornfully.

"But know that it isn't the 'teddy bear' that will have to be sewn after this battle, monkey boy!" Po said, now with a positive expression on his face.

He then threw the gorilla's arms up and made a series of powerful punches and continued throughout his torso. I was fascinated with the speed and pace with which Po was making the punches. The first time he had tried to hit the gorilla boss, he felt a lot of pain in the hand, but now he was doing a series of punches, and didn't seem to feel pain.

The gorilla boss was moving away from me and toward the other gorillas, as Po was giving his punches on him. Then Po stopped hitting the gorilla on the torso and punched below his chin, making him take several steps back, going to the other gorillas.

"How about if we could take advantage that today is a sunny day, and feel the breeze to refresh ourselves?" Po said after the giant looked at him after being heavily battered.

We all then drove our eyes to Po, he began to twirl without going anywhere, but he was spinning faster and faster, so fast, that he looked like a hurricane, making his figure stay distorted. And his speed was incredibly further increasing every second, getting to make a small stream of air around it.

Me and others were looking at it in amazement, and stayed still, while the 'hurricane' was gaining speed.

"TAKE THAT!" Po shouted, suddenly stopping spinning. But the amazing thing was that there was a kind of green light in his hand, when he stopped spinning, getting into a fighting stance and stretching the arm that had the light, and this light was thrown at an incredible speed towards the gorilla boss and his henchmen.

The gorilla boss screamed in fear quickly and then was hit by the green light. Then a quick blast occurred and a large plume of smoke rose, covering a large part of the trade area ahead us.

I kept looking at all that smoke, and haven't seen any sign of gorilla gang. They had been blown up by the amazing technique of the Dragon Warrior!

"I don't know what it was, but...was... AWESOME! What did you do Po?" I asked excitedly.

"Liked it? This was the Thundering Wind Hammer! One of the legendary kung fu impossible movements, but this one I had improved by myself to make it stronger!...well...That's it! We detonate these idiots, High Five, Liu!" Po joked and then reached out looking for a high five, and we celebrate joyfully.

But we had celebrated too fast. Once the dust settled, our happiness ended.

Our expressions of joy quickly changed to a terrified expression. When the dust settled, we could see what actually happened, THE GORILLA BOSS HAD DEFENDED PO'S TECHNIQUE!

He was with both arms stretched in front of him, ie, he had stopped the Thundering Wind Hammer with his hands! Po and I couldn't believe it. He hadn't only defended and protected his henchmen, but also didn't have a scratch or any other bodily injury.

The only thing that happened was that the parts of the armor that were protecting the arms were cracking slowly, and when he lowered his arms, the arm's protection had broken completly and fell from his arms. The piece of armor that was protecting his arms before, now had fallen on the ground and turned to dust.

He looked at what had happened to his armor, closed his eyes and let out a loud scream of rage.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID, YOU IDIOT! How dare you to hurt me, Hiroíto Li, the biggest and stronger gorilla in the whole China? LOOK what did you did to my armor! Do you think it's easy to steal one of these?" the gorilla boss exclaimed with an anger tone.

Po and I saw that the fight would take a little longer than expected. Then we got into a position to fight again.

"You'll pay for that! GET THEM!" the gorilla boss ordered, and his henchmen soon started coming towards us.

Po scampered in front of me, he would separate the gorillas because they were too close to each other, and if we tried to hit them all together, it would be very tiring and much more difficult. Po then rolled like a ball toward them, the gorillas tried to leave the path. He hit three of them at the same time, like a STRIKE, and managed to do what wanted, he separated them. They ended up splitting into two groups of five, exactly what we needed, then Po stood facing one of the groups and I to another.

"Hey, Po! I bet I can defeat my half, before you can defeat Your half!" I challenged him.

"We will see, Jade!" he replied, then we attacked them, at the same time.

I started with some kicks at the belly of the bandit who was closer to me, then went to the next two with several punches at their faces, and finally jumped up and stood in the air for a moment, then opened a side splits and kicked in the nose of the other two. The five turned away due to the beating I gave them, then formed a circle around me and stared at me with anger, so I crossed my arms and looked at them with a little smile.

"Why are you so happy, you little brat?" one of them asked.

"It is that I stopped to notice now, that at the first time I beated you, it was so quickly, but now I'm hitting you, and you are just getting nervous...Nifty! Now we can fight a little more" I teased them, and they snarled in response, getting even more hatred.

"SHUT UP, you miserable!" one exclaimed, coming towards me to give me a punch, I dodged it with a jump, and I used it to my advantage to strike him, lifting my right knee and hitting his chin. That made him fall on his back, now fainted.

"NOT this time! Okay...Who's next?" I laughed.

Meanwhile, Po was defeating the other group of gorillas. Po hit them with great agility, even being a panda, the gorilla bandits were not even having a chance against the Dragon Warrior. He hit them one-by-one, with an average of three strokes on each one before moving to the next, but just like the gorillas I was facing, they were just backing away, but not coming to fall.

I got into a position to fight again, so this time I was going to defeat the remaining gorillas who were fighting me. One of them tried to hit me by my back with a left punch, then to defend myself, I threw my left arm backwards in the direction of his hand. By doing this, I then shrank the same arm in half, so I made the gorilla hit the punch on my elbow, breaking his fingers. This did him let a loud cry of pain and back off a bit backwards.

I took that he had lowered his guard, and did many punches of right and left in his belly and a strong kick in his chin, while I supported myself on the other leg.

"LIU, LOOK OUT!" Po shouted to warn me.

Scared, I heard a scream and then quickly looked back, it was Hirohíto Li, he had came running towards me at full speed. I could simply divert him jumping to the side, but the other gorillas were very close to me, so the only option was to jump over him, but he was a few feet away, and I would not be able to jump high enough to go over that giant.

This time he would hit me with his powerful right punch that he had tried before, and there was nothing I could do.

Po tried to come towards me to help me, but the gorillas that he was fighting with, prevented him.

"THIS TIME YOU WON'T ESCAPE, BRAT!" he shouted, so I put my arms in front of me to try to defend myself.

"NO!" a boy shouted, so I quickly saw the body of a snow leopard come running like lightning towards the head gorilla, dodging the other gorillas that were on my left, and with a leap in the direction of Hirohito Lee, punched him in the cheek.

I could practically see it in slow motion, then, due to the punch, the giant kept coming toward me, but now stumbling and giving several somersaults, I bent down, and then I could just feel a little wind go through my back when Hirohíto Lee passed over me.

He still doing somersaults after that and hit two other gorillas. Then I got up quickly and looked at the snow leopard, he was the same who I had met in the stall of items for martial arts, but this time he was not wearing a straw hat, then I looked at his face and saw that he was not Tuggsy.

"You...but if you are not the Tuggsy.. who are you?" I asked the snow leopard who looked like my friend.

"Hello 'madam', my name is Peng! Nice to meet you!" he replied. This answer surprised me, I stared him, now changing my expression of doubt for one of surprised.

I widened my eyes with the answer. In my mind, I thought that Peng was a tall, strong boy and much older than me, but actually, he is a boy of the same height as me, at most one year older and didn't appear to be the as strong as he actually was.

"PENG! It's good to see you again, buddy!" said Po from far, while beating the gorilla bandits.

"Good to see you too, Po! It seems that you are in need of a little help, can I join in the fun too?" he joked with us, as I had done before and Po.

"Do your best, 'sir'!" I replied. Then the snow leopard ran toward Hirohito Lee. Soon Peng jumped going toward him, before the gorilla boss could stood up completely, and kicked him in the face, making him flying several feet away.

Meanwhile, I ran toward the gorillas that I was already fighting before, without they notice me. Then I struck the one who was closest to me, making a series of punches on his belly, and then punched his chin, making him fall on his back, unconscious.

About Po, he was starting to hit his opponents a little more slowly. Despite all the strength that he was using in his series of blows, the gorillas bandits had an incredible resistence, and Po was no longer holding on to fight at a good pace. Instead of just beating them, now every five times he beat they, the gorillas beat him once, causing the panda begin to be exhausted.

Peng was doing well in his fight against the gorilla boss. Hirohito Lee was attacking with speed and strength, but Peng dodged ducking or using his arms. The gorilla tried to hit him with a right kick, but he held his leg, and with his left leg pulled the gorilla's leg, a sweep had been done very easily and successfully. Then Peng jumped high to hit him a blow in the fall, but as the big guy was also a good fighter and saw what Peng would do, then rose with a very agile movement and stood, and when Peng was close enough, he hit a straight and powerful punch in his stomach, sending him flying away in...My Direction.

I had no time to dodge, and Peng hit me while my back was turned, and both were thrown towards Po, hitting him too. The three of us fell down and then were surrounded by the gorillas gang, who made a circle around us.

Po stood up and made me and Peng fell on the belly on the floor, then got up.

"Ouch! This guy is pretty strong, isn't he?" Peng said with pain, while with hand on belly trying to ease the pain.

"...If we...continue at this pace...things could end very badly..." Po said breathlessly, he was sweating and extremely exhausted.

They were right, though was not exactly something good for us. Po was exhausted to continue, Peng took a punch that left him clearly hurt, the gorillas were greater in number, didn't seem to be suffering much damage with our blows, and I was out of ideas to get out of that situation.

The gorillas bandits and Hirohito Lee were approaching slowly, laughing in a sarcastic way of us. It made me gnash my teeth in anger. Then suddenly, Po grabbed me and Peng, one on each arm and took us on his lap.

"Hold on!" he said in a weak tone. A strange thing happened, a kind of golden light shone around Po's body; he jumped, which made us go over all of the gang of gorillas, and at an incredible speed, he ran the main road from the Valley, ranging from trade area (in the valley) and rising to almost half of the staircase Jade Palace; all in a matter of less than five seconds. Then let us on the staircase and sat down, breathing deep.

"W-what was that?" I asked impressed.

"I...my chi is a little different from yours, Liu! Mine is...the Hero's Chi...it's more powerful than other chis kind! As I saw...that we were in trouble, I thought it would be good...to help us escaping...And I have a Plan!" Po said as he tried to catch his breath.

"Get them!" yelled the gorilla boss, ordering his henchmen. The whole gang of gorillas were in the early steps of the palace, and soon would rise to pick us up. I then stopped thinking about how that thing that Po had done was amazing, and I refocused.

"Okay, Po! What's the plan?" Peng asked.

"Just relax and feel the breeze" he said. Me and Peng find it strange, and how Po seemed relaxed about the situation, closing his eyes and doing some tai chi movements, facing the underside of the staircase.

Peng seemed to have understood what Po had in mind, then stood beside him and started doing tai chi movements too. I still had no idea of Po's intention, but I obeyed and did the same.

"Feel the air currents passing around your entire body" Po said. I felt a gentle breeze passing around my arms and then down my belly.

"And then, Po?" Peng asked in a calm tone.

"While doing tai chi, track the movement of the wind" Po continued. I had a strange tingling sensation in the palms of my hands after that.

"What is the intention of all this, Po?" I asked, still with eyes closed and making the movements of tai chi.

"Now, you focus all this tingling, in the palm of your hands and RUN!" Po continued and then ran down the stairs, and I followed him and Peng also running as fast as we could.

Hirohito Lee and his troops were slowly climbing the staircase, where all his henchmen were already gasping for air and he was sweating like a faucet open, until everyone stopped.

I, Peng and Po were running toward them, with incredible speed, as well as the Dragon Warrior had already done before. The tingling in my hands was getting bigger, I was so rapid that almost didn't see the stairs passing by my feet, and the three of us felt the wind blow strongly throughout our body.

"At my signal, do leg strength to stop running and rotate without going anywhere!" Po told us, still running.

We were almost 50 meters from them, until I feel the tingling stop and a wind pass around my hands, then Po yelled forcefully.

"NOW!" the three of us stopped suddenly doing a lot of leg strength that we put in front of us to stop, then in a matter of a quarter of a second, we spin at high speed ten times without going anywhere. I felt the wind focus in the palm of my hands in the shape of a sphere, which gained a dark blue color, and so happened to Po (who has a green sphere) and Peng (who formed a red one).

The gorilla boss looked at us with amazement, being ahead of his henchmen.

"TAKE THAT! THUNDERING WIND HAMMER!" he shouted, while we still spinning, then we stopped suddenly and stretch our hands on the gorilla gang's direction.

The three balls were thrown at an incredible speed, and then turned around Po's ball and joined into one.

"NO! It can't be!" the gorilla boss moaned in fear, then put his arms in front of his face to try to protect himself, but to no avail.

The powerful technique made by the three of us hit Hirohito Lee and caused a quick burst of energy, that had a diameter of 30 meters and raised a big gray dust. It was so powerful that the wind caused by the explosion threw me, Po and Peng a few feet up the stairs.

We got up slowly and looking at the big cloud of smoke.

"Whew! I think we finally did it!" Peng said in a cheerful tone. Then I jumped with excitement.

"AWESOME! I can't believe I just learned one of the legendary impossible moves, fought alongside two great masters and together we ended up with a whole gang of gorillas! And it all just in my First Mission! Thank you both, for making this day unforgettable for me!" I said quickly, hugging them both at the same time.

"Uh...you're welcome!" they both said together, hugging me and also happy with our done.

But after that, we heard something that almost made our hearts stop, LAUGHS! Laughs of the gorillas, who were still inside the cloud of smoke. Our expressions of happiness changed to one of fear.

"W-what?...Impossible! They...they can't be just fine after such a blow..." Peng said in a low tone, as if startled.

Then we heard another laugh, further up the staircase, then we slowly turned around to see who it was. Was Hiroito Li, he was now without the breastplate of his armor, with only the lower part covering the hips and legs. And the scary thing was that in the palm of one hand he had a big ball of fire with the size of his trunk.

"Did you really think that you are the only ones who knew how to do special techniques? Then let me show you my true power!" he laughed at us.

What didn't get out of my head, was how he had managed to survive our attack and still have protected his henchmen, how he had gotten up there without us realizing it, and what was that thing in his hand.

"Feel my wrath! MONGOLIAN FIREBALL!" he shouted, then threw that thing in our direction.

I now knew what he had done, it was also one of the legendary impossible moves, and it had a great destructive power. We tried to go sideways to deflect that, but it was too late.

It hit us and made us fly away, until the begining of the staircase of the palace, in the Valley. We fell with our back on the floor, Po and Peng closed their eyes and fainted.

"No...they...can not...win...the villagers depend on us! I will not...can't...let...them win..." I said trying to get up, but I was in pain throughout the body and difficulty breathing, not holding stand and fell Belly the floor.

"Get them! Tie, put on the cart and let's take them to the cave...it's time to teach these idiots, that No ONE gets in our way!" the gorilla boss ordered his henchmen and then laughed.

"...N... no ..." I fainted.


	3. Chapter 1 (part 3)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **01\. Meeting an old friend (part 3)**

After I fainted, was still somewhat conscious, but not to the point of being able to speak or move. Thus, I could only feel and hear what was happening around me.

I felt a cold metal chain squeezing my chest and my arms. They had put me on the wooden cart, where I heard the bags of products swaying with the cart's movement. One thing that bothered me was the fact that all the way, I could hear the awful moans of my friends while the gorillas bandits laughed among themselves, but I didn't feel their presence at any time. Po and Peng should be almost waking, then they should be being transported in a different way of my, probably were being carried by the villains.

Then something surprised everyone, a thunder sounded in the sky and a rain began. I was lying on my side, with the left side of the body facing down, and those icy raindrops began to leave me conscious to the point of beginning to open my eyes and listen to the conversations of the gorillas a little better.

"Quick! We can not wet these products! Hurry, slackers!" I heard Hirohito Lee ordered his henchmen, and then the cart began to shake a lot with the new pace of the gorillas.

With that, my body turned to the side, and now I was belly up. I could feel even more that cold rain beat all over my body. I felt many raindrops fall on my face gently, and gradually easing the pain I had in scratches all over my body.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at the dark sky above. I tried to move, but I had no strength to stand. My arms were immobile because of the chains and I almost couldn't feel my legs.

Until that the cart passed one of its wheels over a rock, causing the cart to lean a little, and it made me be thrown from the middle of the wooden floor up to the bags of products that were on the front part of it, and let out a low moan of pain.

"STOP!" I heard one of them scream. The cart was stopped shortly thereafter, then I heard footsteps of someone approaching. Then some gorillas were now staring at me.

I acted on impulse and tried to get into a defensive position, sitting up and leaning my back on the bags of products, so that none of them would stay behind me. When I touched the bags of products, I felt a great pain in my spine, and those chains were squeezing me, leaving me breathless.

They laughed at my reaction. I felt a great hate consume me, like if I needed to hit them, by laughing at my pain, but I had no strengths.

"Not so fast, little brat!" one of them said. A huge hand covered my nose and mouth with a cloth. I started getting dizzy.

The gorilla kept holding the cloth on my face, which was wet and had a very strong smell. Because of the characteristic smell, I realized it was chloroform, and that was a problem. If I didn't remove the cloth from my face, he would faint me, so I tried to move my head from side to side, but without sucess.

I began to lose consciousness again, and this time completely, then I just closed my eyes and fainted again. After a long time, I started to regain consciousness, but still couldn't open my eyes.

I began to have a very bad feelings. What they would do to us? To where they were taking us? Why they were attacking and destroying the villages? Who exactly was Hirohito Lee and what were his plans?

These unanswered questions ran through my head as I was recovering.

Slowly, I managed to open my eyes. I was tied by the wrists and ankles by metal cuffs, and the handcuffs were fastened to the ground by iron chains. I was kneeling on a quadricular steel plate above the rocky floor. I looked around, I paresis being trapped in a cave inside a mountain, looking up, I saw only rock walls.

I couldn't see the ceiling of the cave, it was too high, and all the place was a bit dark. Then I looked ahead, and got shocked by what I saw. It was Peng, but the way he was, it was somewhat scary and familiar.

I saw that we were both on platforms, and below us was a gigantic hole that you couldn't see the bottom. Our platforms were connected by a stone bridge, and there was also another bridge connected to our, that leading to an elevator that stood on the slope of the wall.

Peng was chained at his platform, exactly the same way as Tai Lung. He was on his knees, with iron manacles attached to the wrists, which were tied to metal chains, with large rocks at the other end, getting hung by the arms of Peng, and with a sort of tortoiseshell of metal on his back, with several needles piercing him, hitting pressure points and leaving him motionless.

It was terrible to see Peng subjected to that. He was apparently unconscious, but agonizing in pain. I had no idea how that gang of gorillas had managed that thing, even less why HE was stuck to that thing, but I couldn't just keep looking at Peng stay that way longer.

I tried to get up, supporting me initially with the right leg. The chains were heavy, the handcuffs were tight, and my whole body ached. I strained to get on my feet and looked at him again.

"Do...don't worry...Peng! I'll just...get rid of these chains...and I'll help you..." I said in a weak and breathless tone. So I took a deep breath to regain my strength and held the chains with my palms. I took a little more breath and started to pull the chains with all my strength. My arms were shaking, like they were going to rip in half, but I was not able to break the chains.

Suddenly I began to feel a strange tingling in my belly, but I ignored and kept trying hard to break the chains. I narrowed my eyes, signed over my base, leaned back and grabbed the chains with even more force. Peng woke up and stared at me with a scared face.

"NO, LIU! Stop doing so much strength to break the chains! Fast, or you... " he was about to finish the warning, but it was too late.

The tingling in my belly stopped and the unexpected happened. A shock! A shock that passed up the inside of my bones, and passing through my skin. I felt like my skin was being burned in flames. My limbs began to tingle unconditionally, and I started to stop feeling them. My brain seemed to squirm inside my head and my heart raced.

After countless seconds, the rays of electricity, which before were passing through my whole body, disappeared, and the shock stopped.

I fell to my knees, I was breathless, and after the shock my joints were hurting a lot. I had no idea how I had taken that shock, and how Peng knew that.

"W-what...was that?..." I asked, straining to try to talk.

"I tried to warn you, sorry...look at your belly! They arrested this thing to you, and every time you use your chi, this device releases an electrical charge...and the worst is that slowly...it will also draining it" Peng explained to me with a sad tone in his voice, as if he was wanting to cry.

I looked at my belly. A kind of black four points leather belt tied a gray metal disc, over my top shirt. It had a format that looked like a gear, some copper wires were exposed on the outside and in the middle of it was written in black ink, in chinese, 'despair'.

I would never imagine that a gang that robbed villages would have at their disposal equipment like these, who were using to torture the prisoners. How they could have gotten them was also a mystery.

I felt like my energy was leaving my body, and I began to sweat. Even though it was gradually weakening me, it was still an agonizing feeling, but it soon stopped. The device that was shining with a blue color before, stopped and I felt, somehow, a relief.

After a few seconds breathing deeply to recover my breath, I looked again to Peng, who was looking down.

"What's wrong, Peng?...I know we're not exactly in very good condition, but why are you so...wait a moment...Po! WHERE IS HE? He...he was with us during the trip, where he is now?" I asked worried after noticing that only two of us were there.

Peng was quiet and with his head low for a while, tried to say something, but no words come out of his mouth. That worried me. Then he took a deep breath.

"It was Po that was in your place before, Liu!...Those damn gorillas also put this thing on him...Po tried with all his strength to break free, but in vain!...He used all his strength, agonized until couldn't take it anymore...and...then...they threw him in this abyss which is below us!" Peng told what happened, with tears in his eyes. I was shocked, as if my heart had stopped for a moment. Does our dear friend and hero had died...and in such a cruel way?

"No...! Po...it can't be..." I said, now also crying.

"...And that is not all! This cave is underwater...and the gorillas said that in less than an hour...the whole place will be flooded...with me, you and the others!" Peng continued, and this alarmed me.

"WHAT!? So my mother and the others are here too? But...they were on a mission! They went to the Secret Museum of Kung Fu to check if everything was in order...how did they..." Peng interrupted me.

"They somehow knew all this, Liu! And they had plans to steal the mystical items from the museum...so they pitched a trap and then completed the goal, and those bastards also kidnapped my girlfriend, Lian, I don't know why...and left prey with others...but...no..." Peng would continue but lowered his head again, as if he was about to tell me something worse.

"What do you mean 'but'? What's the matter? WHAT ELSE, PENG?" I asked, afraid of the answer. He took a breath and then looked up again.

"...I heard...the gorillas saying that probably if they keep Shifu, the other five and Lian prisoners much longer, they would probably escape...and they conclued...in Killing them, even before the whole place is flooded!" after he said that, I felt like my heart had stopped and as if I would faint.

"NO! DAMN! How long ago was this, Peng?" I asked angrily.

"Moments before you wake up...why?" he asked still downcast.

"IF IT DIDN'T HAPPENED LONG AGO, MAYBE WE CAN STILL HELP THEM! I WON'T LET THOSE BASTARDS HURT MY FRIENDS!" I said enraged, standing up quickly and pulling the chains with all my strength, from the bottom up.

As expected, I started to take a very strong shock, and its rays and sparks went through my whole body. I screamed as I tried to resist, hoping to break the chains.

"LIU! STOP! It is useless, there is no way to break these chains!" Peng tried to stop me, but I kept straining to try to break the chains.

The shock seemed to intensify more and my energy was fading fast. I couldn't break the chains, and fell on my belly on the floor. The shock stopped.

"D-darn...If I keep like this... I won't get rid of these chains!...But I Need help...my mom and my friends" I told myself.

"Liu! Are you okay?" Peng asked worriedly.

"No, Peng! I AM NOT OKAY!" I said, straining to lift myself again to try to break the chains.

After trying hard to set me free, I took a shock again. It burned my skin, made me feel my body squirm by inside, my joints trembled and I couldn't keep my eyes open because of the pain.

But I kept doing more strength to keep standing and to break the chains. In this second attempt, I managed to get double the time of the first, did a lot of strength, I couldn't stay there any longer, I HAD to get free; but just as before, I couldn't resist enough, and fell on my belly on the floor, without having broken the chains.

"N-no..." I complained breathlessly. My wrists were very sore, I felt that my limbs were almost ripping, while I was gasping for air, I had to strain to catch the breath.

"Liu...even the Dragon Warrior didn't managed to get rid of these currents...As hard as it is to accept...I think this time we lost!...*cry...All that we fought so hard to achieve, our dreams...that we couldn't perform...our friends...All this...will stay only in memory!...Nobody should die like..." Peng blurted, as if this was his deathbed, but it irritated me a lot and made my blood boil. I couldn't stand hearing him finish it, and I interrupted.

"Shut...up!..." I said weakly. Peng looked at me in amazement, with tears in his eyes.

"W-what?" he asked innocently.

"I said to you ...SHUT UP!" I yelled nervously with him.

"But...why are you so mad?" he continued. I felt like it would explode.

"And you even ask? How can you say something like that? What is your problem?...Are you going to give up? I don't understand! You mainly!...With an overcoming and perseverance life story...you should also be trying to break this thing on your back to try to help those we love! And instead, you're crying like a little baby!" I exclaimed angrily.

"Don't tell me such a thing! I know very well all what I went through!...But this time...there's nothing I can do!" he defended himself.

"Of course there is! You just need to lift your head, stop thinking that this will be our end and start trying to escape" I replied.

"But...I can't escape this thing! I'm immobilized! And you're also stuck and can't help me...it's impossible!" Peng said, looking at the metal shell on his back and handcuffs on his wrists.

"Impossible?...Peng, NOTHING is impossible if we have determination and willpower!...AND I WILL PROVE!" I exclaimed, standing up quickly. Again, I pulled the handcuffs the max as I could, leaving them at the waist, then pulled them up to try to break.

I used all the strength I had left to keep going, but still, the chains keep holding me and I couldn't pull the cuffs above the waist. Then came the shock.

It came back even stronger than before. I yelled in pain even louder, my voice echoed through the cave, but I steadied my feathers to remain standing and continued straining to try to free myself.

"LIU! STOP IT! IF YOU CONTINUE YOU WILL END UP DYING!" Peng shouted.

"NEVER!...I...I won't let them hurt...my mother...and my friends!...EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" I replied, as the shock passed all over my body and made me writhe in pain.

"Liu ..." Peng stared at me in amazement.

"...Peng...we must never give up doing what's right!...And even if we were to die... what would you rather...die here, hopeless and afraid...or die trying to be free and for those who you love?..." I asked. My heart was beating really fast, my arms felt like they were bursting because of the force that I did, and I couldn't keep my eyes open to look at Peng as I spoke with him.

Peng didn't answered, he just kept looking at me with astonishment, as if he had no idea how I was still stand and trying to get free.

"Liu...you..." Peng was going to say something, but I interrupted him.

"shout of pain*...Peng..I believe that one day...you heard Po or one of the Six Furious..talk about perseverance...willpower...and never give up on your dreams...Don't You?" I asked, while the shock still pass through my body, and still trying to break the chains.

"...Yes!..." he replied, beginning to remember the past.

"...I always follow...the lessons they...taught me! And I NEVER regretted...I became a happier...and more confident person...and I learned to NEVER break a promise!" I continued.

"What promise?" he asked blankly.

"...One of the things...that I remember very well of my family...my biological parents...was that...they made me promise that I would Never...stop following my dreams!...And never give up...until...I perform them!" I explained.

"...amazing..." he whispered, thinking about my history and still noticing that I had not given up releasing me.

"Now that I...finally got to realize many of my dreams...I won't let them...have been conquered and then taken away from me!...I still have dreams to accomplish...so I'm Not Giving Up!" I continued.

"..." Peng didn't know what to say next.

"...I will fulfill my promise!...I won't give up!...What have been taught to me...was...Not...in vain!...AND...I WILL...SHOW YOU...THAT...I'M NOT...WRONG!" I yelled, doing the maximum of strength that I could to break the chains and handcuffs.

Soon, I could hear the sound of the metal chains cracking. Gradually, they were breaking in half. The shock was excruciating, and that device that drained my energy and chi made me slowly lose consciousness.

But now I was almost reaching my goal, and could help my mother and my friends. I just couldn't give up now.

I shouted and did even more strenght than before, and followed by a relief, the chains and shackles were broken in half. They flew away from me and fell into the abyss below me. The shock stopped almost instantly, then I lowered my arms and leaned on my knees to keep from falling.

I saw that the evil device hadn't left me, but I was very tired and in pain throughout all my body, so I didn't give it much importance. I breathed deeply to catch my breath and slowly managed to open my eyes.

Peng kept looking at me, he seemed to have gone back to being who he was before. He wasn't crying anymore and seemed to have seen a miracle happen before him.

"WOW! Liu, You Did It! I can't believe...you Really did it!" he said cheerfully.

"...Whew! Finally!...Now we just need to free you of this thing and we can go help AAAAH!" I fell flat on my face. I had forgotten the cuffs that bound my ankles, and when I tried to walk I ended up being insured by them.

"Hey!...You forgot these cuffs on your ankles, Liu!" Peng said, wanting to laugh.

"I see...nothing funny on it, Peng" I said wryly.

After that, a white feather fell from the dark ceiling of the cave, going in the direction of Peng. It twirled in the air a few times slowly and stopped in front of Peng. A ray of hope appeared for his freedom.

He looked at that pen thoughtfully. Then he smiled slightly, now it was possible to see a clear confidence in his eyes.

"Liu, Thanks! Without you, I think I would never be able to get back to do what's right, and even less escape this place! Now if you'll excuse me, while you try to get rid of those other cuffs, I'll get rid of this thing!" he thanked me, smiling and with a firm tone in his voice, catching the white feather that was in front of him with his tail and drawing up a lock that was on top of the metal shell on his back.

He tucked the stiff part of it into the lock, and then began to use the tip of his tail to move it from one side to the other, like a key. Soon, we heard the noise of the gears of the lock, and shortly after, it had been unlocked.

The needles of the metal shell, which were before immobilizing Peng, rose. Peng felt a great relief and then moved his hands to see if he really was able to move.

Then Peng stood and the metal shell fell from his back, hit the ground and broke into several pieces. I found it quite strange.

"Huh? It can't be! I heard that Tai Lung had to break the metal shell after opening it with a feather...why this one just fell off of your back?" I asked, not understanding.

"Well, this is probably not the same kind that my uncle used when he was in jail! This must be another prototype...Hey! How so? Do you by chance wanted it to be harder for me to escape?" Peng asked me seriously, after realizing what I had asked.

"Oops!...Sorry! It's not quite what I mean...I mean...I thought your escape would be equal his, and I always wondered how was the reaction of the soldiers who saw him escape...I always thought...I dunno! Maybe this could be awesome and..." I tried to explain myself, but Peng stared at me with a serious look and when I answered, he interrupted me.

"Ah...okay! We have to...help others!..." he said, doing a lot of strength to try to pull the stones at the ends of the chains, up.

He leaned forward and then pulled the chain up with all his strength, stretching arms above the head. After that, the huge stones, which had the same size as him, were thrown up, and following the movement of currents, both clashed and parted down the middle.

The rocks fell into the abyss, and then Peng just broke the handcuffs on his wrists. Then he stopped and looked at me.

I was amazed, and couldn't help but look at his escape. He threw in the air, not one but two extremely heavy stones, making it look easy. I stood staring at him.

"Come on, Liu! We have to go help our friends! Take off these cuffs, we gotta go!" he hastened me, not understanding why I had gone into shock.

"...Ok!...Let's go!" I answered, recovering myself, and breaking the cuffs around my ankles.

Then we ran to the elevator and went up to the top floor. When we got up as much as we could, we stopped at a large wooden bridge, which both ends led to different paths, with several cells along their corridors.

"Let's split up to try to find them! I'll go to left and you'll go to right!" he said. After I confirmed that yes nodding.

We run at full speed in our directions. There were several cells made of iron bars on both sides of the way, I was passing by them quickly as I looked into them to see if my mother or my friends were there.

I walked a long distance through that dark and cold path hoping to see them, but they were not in any of those cells.

"Damn! Where are you?...I hope it's not too late!" I said to myself, then quickly looked forward and saw a gray brick wall. The straight corridor, now turned to the left, I tried to stop abruptly and skidded in the direction I ran, then turned and continued following the path.

I kept running for a few more seconds, until that on my right I saw a large wooden door, with the same size of the brick walls. I stopped running and looked at her.

After that I scoured all the way searching, I found that the door would be the last place to look. After all, probably the paths that me and Peng parted should end there. But if so, he should be where I was.

When I thought about it, Peng was running towards me looking back and didn't see me, then bumped into me, throwing me a few feet away. He fell flat on his belly on the floor, in front of the door.

"Ops! Sorry, Liu! I hadn't seen you...Wow! Both paths brought up here! And apparently this is the only place they can be!" he said, looking at the door.

I really wanted to answer that, but I didn't want to be rude, and that was not a good time for that.

We opened the door and walked into a huge room with gray concrete walls. It looked like a torture and execution chamber. Were scattered by it many strange and sharp instruments, and that drew most attention was an electric chair, a noose, a hydraulic press with a cage around, a glass aquarium full of water, and scarier, a wooden crucifix where in the ends had cuffs to arrest the arms, legs and neck.

Then we look more closely at these things, and me and Peng had very bad hunches. The closest thing to us was the electric chair, and on the seat we saw some yellowish fur, it was the Monkey's fur.

"No...no...not them too!" Peng pulled away from the electric chair and sat on the floor, before he lost his balance and fell, and began to breathe deeply.

My throat was dry, my head felt like it was spinning and my legs were wobbly. Involuntarily, I kept looking at the objects of torture.

Below the noose, I found a white feathers, which I recognized that belonged to Crane. In the hydraulic press had a crumpled shape in the metal, similar to Mantis's back and legs. In the glass aquarium full of water, was at the bottom of the container the two Viper's roses ribbons.

I didn't feel strong enough to get closer to the wooden crucifix. From a distance, I saw a piece of torn clothing, a piece of the black trousers of my mother, Tigress, in front of the crucifix.

I kept staring at that for a few seconds. My heart seemed to be split in half, my hands were shaking, I was having trouble to breath and I fell on my knees. My vision blurred with tears. I couldn't just accept that this was happening.

"NO!...m-mom!...First Po...and now my friends and my mother!..." I cryed.

Peng also started crying and lamenting the loss of his girlfriend, Lian, and his friends. Until we hear something that made us instantly stop crying.

"LIU" a voice shouted from afar in the hallways. It was my mother.

"LIU! Where are you?" shouted the other Furious Six.

Peng and I got up and gave a big smile. We both felt as if a miracle had happened. Then they broke down the huge wooden door and entered the room. My eyes widened with excitement when my mother and I looked at each other.

"MOM!" I exclaimed and ran toward her.

"LIU!" she exclaimed in hapiness, and ran towards me. Then she bent over and I jumped into her arms. We gave a big hug one another.

I felt a great relief to know that I was wrong. My mother and my friends were safe and sound, I went back to crying, but this time of excitement. Until a voice surprised me.

"Whew! It's so good that we finally found you! This place is huge, and it's quite hard to try finding someone in here..." it was Po. He was alive! I stopped crying and gave a big smile.

"PO! You Are Alive! I'm so glad that you all are well!" I stopped hugging my mom and ran to hug him. Despite being a happy moment, Peng seemed to be annoyed with something, and then ran and jumped towards Po, and began to hang him.

"YOUR IDIOT! I SAW YOU BEING TORTURED ALMOST TO DEATH! AND AFTER YOU FELL ON THE FLOOR IN PAIN AND RAISED NO MORE, I THOUGHT YOU REALLY HAD DIED! WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOWED ME SOMEHOW THAT YOU WERE STILL ALIVE?...WELL...SINCE YOU HAVEN'T DIED WITH THE CLIFF FALL, I'LL KILL YOU HERE AND RIGHT NOW, FOR YOU HAVE MADE ME GO THROUGH ALL THIS!" Peng said enraged.

Po walked across the room and bumped in the instruments of torture while Peng was hanging him. Despite all that he had said, none of us moved to help Po, after all Peng was just nervous and wouldn't really kill him.

"Peng...take it easy...after all...I'm alive...aren't I?...I'm also glad to see you...but do not... overdo it!" Po said breathlessly as he held Peng's arms with both hands trying to free himself.

Peng released him. Po took a deep breath, putting a hand on his neck to relieve pain, and then fell back to the ground after Peng make him stumble.

"You deserved it!" Peng grunted and crossed his arms.

"Ouch!...OKAY! Sorry...at the next time I'll try to say somehow that what I'm doing is just a plan to escape!" Po apologized after sitting.

I stopped looking at the two and returned my gaze to my mother and the other Furious Six, with a smile. Then I stopped to think about how everyone had escaped.

"But tell me, how did you guys escape? I realized that each of you was stuck to one of the machines of torture, and on them had traces of yours...so...how do you escaped...after all, those gorillas wouldn't stop until..." I was confused, and before I finished the question, Grandpa Shifu interrupted me.

"Well, Liu, in fact those gorillas would torture us to death, but me and the other Furious Six are aware that things like this can happen to us! Long before you being adopted by your mother, I've trained them to handle this kind of situation! We stand the torture, and after a long period, they thought that we had really died!" Shifu explained.

"Yes...but don't think that was easy...we've stand strongly but the effects still seem to continue" Monkey moaned. He was with several black spots all over the body, that were due to the shock that he had taken in the electric chair, getting all scorched.

"Yeah! Once back home, I think...I'll stay a month resting!...Darn it! My back is killing me!" Mantis, who was on Monkey's shoulder, added. His antennae were crushed and he couldn't open his left eye.

"Oh, yes...I almost forgot!" Viper walked by us and headed for the water tank, to get her pink ribbons, leaving a trail of water wherever he went.

"Well...I guess I was the only one who wasn't screwed this time!" Crane said smiling. I didn't understand why he said that, but then I noticed that he was the only unscathed.

"How so? I see that you really don't have any injury, but...you were being hanged on the gallows! How can you just say you are fine?" I asked, confused.

"Well, Liu, when they put me on the gallows, they apparently were so dumb that they must haven't noticed that I'm a bird and that I can FLY! So when I was arrested, I pretended to be debating myself to get free, when I actually was flying high enough not to be stifled!" Crane said, still smiling. I was serious for a moment, I couldn't believe that those gorillas were capable of being so stupid.

"Well...not everyone had this luck, Crane!" my mother, Tigress, said with a tone of pain.

I looked at her. When I saw her before, I was so excited that I didn't notice if she was hurt, just as I hadn't noticed the Furious Six. Her condition seemed serious.

She had several bruises on her arms, cuts on the face, head and limbs, and some parts of the clothes were torn, as the left side of the shirt (the tummy, showing it a little) and the pants (on the knees).

"Oh My Goodness...sorry, Mom! I was so excited by seeing you that...I haven't noticed that you were seriously injured..." I said, embarrassed and worried. She smiled.

"...No problem, Liu! I understand...and don't worry, it takes much more than several punches, kicks, scratches, cuts with sharp blades, bruises, internal injuries, a strong headache, dizziness, a cracked rib, a nearly broken column, clothes torn and a simple breathing difficulty, that will make me give up! Soon I'll be fine...nothing that a good night's sleep doesn't solve!" she quoted her injuries while she tried to, supposedly, make me calm down. She closed her eyes and smiled again.

I got in shock after that. I had never seen my mother in such a serious situation. And what most amazed me was that she didn't seemed to feel pain, and after what she said, it was hard to think that all that had happened to her had really happend. I felt, somehow, pride for her courage and strength, then gave a little smile and hugged her again, fondly.

When I hugged her, I noticed something else, she was wearing a black wool blouse tied at the waist, covering her butt and part of the tail.

"Hum! Why are you with this blouse tied at the waist, mom?" I asked.


	4. Chapter 1 (part 4)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **01\. Meeting an old friend (part 4)**

Soon after, I heard Po, Monkey and Mantis trying to stifle the laughter with their hands, but we could clearly hear that they were laughing. My mother growled.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY! OKAY? You're just laughing because it didn't happened to you!" she was very mad, but I still had not understood the reason for the laughter.

Monkey and Mantis started laughing even more. Po gradually calmed down and then tried to explain me.

"Hehehe...Well...I don't know how or when, but Tigress tore her trousers in a somewhat embarrassing part!" he said and then laughed again.

I looked back at my mother, she pulled the blouse a bit down, to better hide her butt. Monkey and Mantis were almost falling on the floor with the laugh. She walked angrily toward Po.

"YES! I Really tore my trousers in an awkward part! But the worst of all is that after we all defeat the gorillas and started looking for you, a Certain Someone knew this and DIDN'T WARNED ME! So I was walking from one side to the other in this maze, with torn pants!" my mother snapped, leaving Po frightened and embarrassed, but he was still in the mood to laugh.

"Well .. luckily Crane could find this blouse to your mother!" Viper said, as she stared coldly at Monkey and Mantis, who couldn't stop giggling.

"So...I believe this belongs to you, mother!" I extended the piece of my mother's pants for her.

My mother took the piece of her pants with a bit of shame, then thanked me shaking her head and stared at Po again.

"I'm still going to take my revenge, panda! Don't expect me to forgive you so soon, and for have been looking at my butt! And for your own sake, I hope you find me a sewing needle and thread, or it's going to be you who will need a seam!" she whispered to him in a threatening tone.

Po didn't even answered and was searching around the room for the items that my mother asked.

Seeing that we would still stay in the room a little more, I sat on the floor to start a conversation while we waited.

"Well... I've just realized something! Shifu, if you were also arrested and being tortured, where were you? Peng and I didn't find any trace yours" I randomly asked.

"Up there!" He pointed with one hand, right above my head. I looked up and saw nothing beyond the dirty stone ceiling.

"They...stuck you in the ceiling?" I asked.

"No, Liu! He meant there!" Viper pointed with her tail a little more to the side than Shifu told.

So I could see a wooden chair that had ropes to tie the wrists and legs, but it was upside down, with its legs stuck together in a big gear, bigger than the chair itself. I didn't understand exactly how just be upside down could be a torture.

"So...while all the others were tortured, you were hung upside down, being forced to watch your students almost die..." I said in a horrified tone, trying to understand.

"Actually...I hardly saw...them! Actually, I think...I didn't even see exactly something..." Shifu said. But I looked closely at him, he seemed a bit strange. He was slowly turning his head in circles, and his eyes moved from one side to the other. I was even more confused.

"Well, Liu, Master Shifu was tied to that chair, and he was spinning at high speed, as the gorillas swirled that crank! This for a minute or two may seem a joke, but during hours...well...the effects are not exactly pleasant!" Viper explained. Shortly thereafter Master Shifu vomited, almost hitting Monkey's feet.

"YUCK!" exclaimed Monkey and Mantis.

"...Well...I can see that the effects are...really bad! I remember when I was doing sit-ups upside down, in the Jade Palace! After a few minutes, I seemed to feel my head throbbing a little" I remembered, and I could conclude that it really was torture, even for Shifu, a person who is old and has frequent headaches.

"Oh...sorry...But it's Your fault! Why do you need...to keep spinning around me!? Stop it...please!" Shifu said, what made me want to laugh.

"HEY! Wait a moment!...Where...WHERE IS THE LIAN? S-she wasn't with you? Or she just came out of this room...WHERE IS..." Peng said, while he passed between us, looking for his girlfriend, until interrupted by Po.

"Peng...I need you to stay calm, okay? She's fine...just..." he tried to calm him down, and then tried to explain something.

"What? What happened to her? Where is she now? COME ON PO, TELL ME!" Peng said with much concern.

"She...she's stuck in a kind of glass coffin..." Po explained, but Peng was very impatient and worried to hear him finish.

"And WHY didn't you just free her of this glass coffin and brought her along with you?" he asked quickly.

"...Because the coffin was thrown into the abyss of this cave...but since this place is flooding, she fell into the water...and sank... now she's stuck in this glass coffin, and we don't know...how long it will still have air to breathe inside it!" Po finished explaining, with a sad tone in his voice.

Peng's eyes widened in fear and worry. He couldn't accept that the girl he loves the most was in such danger.

"B-but...How? How did this happen?" he asked.

"When we were being brought to be thrown in the abyss, we've seen her already in the glass coffin, on the verge of the abyss, they would throw her...but they realized that we were still alive, so we didn't have time to stop them... " Viper said, putting her tail on Peng's shoulder to console him.

There were a few seconds of silence after that, until I felt something that made me feel alert. My butt, I felt it getting wet. I widened my eyes frightened and looked down. Everything was starting to flood; the water had reached the place where we were, and was quickly rising, almost two inches per second. I got up quickly and looked at all the hall full of water.

"Let's get out of here, Now! We have to go to a higher place and help Lian! Otherwise the water level will rise too much and we won't be able to save her! LETS GO!" my mother came to us and commanded us.

We all ran as fast as we could out of that room, and ran down the hall, which was flooding rapidly, soon reaching the height of my thighs. But after a while, my mother led us to a staircase, so we climbed up to get to the other runners.

Again we were passing through several corridors, halls and cells. After we run a bit, we stopped in front of a large and long concrete bridge that crossed a large lake. But then I realized that it wasn't a lake, it was the abyss.

"Phew...This place is pretty big, isn't it? We have passed...by abysses, bridges, several cells and the corridors seem endless..." Po said breathlessly.

"Yeah! Finally a place big enough to accommodate up to a Po" Mantis joked.

"Yeah...finally one...Hey!" Po said after understanding the joke. Monkey and Mantis laughed.

"Is this where you saw Lian?" Peng immediately asked, looking at the bottom of the flooded abyss.

"Yes! The only way to help Lian now is whether we plunge to the bottom, and when we find her we will have to find a way to pull her up to here!" Viper said.

On that part of the cave that we were, was considerably colder than the others, and the water below us seemed even colder.

I like to swim and play in the water, whenever I have free time I go to a river or lake to cool off, and now all those times that I played to see who could hold the breath for longer, would be put to the test.

"Okay! Liu, Peng, Viper, we will dive and try to find Lian! Meanwhile, you guys try to find a rope that we can use to pull the glass coffin!" my mother told us quickly.

"Okay!" all agree together.

"And hurry up! Lian has spent much time down there and the water level will rise more, soon!" Shifu said.

Me, my mother, Peng and Viper shook our heads to say that we had understood and then we jumped from the bridge and fell into the water. My body sank completely and then I went back to breathe quickly, as well as the others.

"D-dammit! T-this water is fre-freezing!" Viper said trembling. None of us could deny it, the water was really very cold, causing our members began to contract and making we feel that chills pass through the entire body.

"F-forget the cold! The i-important thing now is to f-focus in f-finding Lian and hold our breath as much as we can!" my mother said, also shaking.

Then we close our eyes to concentrate better. I started breathing slowly, pulling as much air as I could through the nose, then let out through my mouth slowly. The four of us did it five times, then in the sixth turn, pulled the air forcefully through the nose and mouth then.

When we finally felt that there wasn't how hold more air in the lungs, we open our eyes and dived quickly. I noticed that I wasn't longer feeling so cold as before, but as I was diving down, I felt the pressure of the water increases. My ears felt like they were locked and I had to be careful not to let water enter through the nose as I descended.

I went swimming flapping feathers and pulling the water towards me with my arms, trying not to float and continue down. It was a bit dark, the only things that illuminated that deep hole were the torches of the bridge where we were before and a luminaire that was lying on a bridge of a lower floor, leaving visible the walls and the bridge where it was.

Looking more closely, a few meters of that luminary had something on that stone bridge, something rectangular and transparent manner. It was the glass coffin where Lian was. When she realized we were close, she tapped on the glass with her hand to make noise and get our attention.

We layered up to her and stayed around her. Peng came closely to lay his hands on top of the glass coffin, to better see his girlfriend who was inside. She put her hand in the same place that was the hand of Peng.

"Oh! It's so good to see you! It's so nice to know that you are all safe...and you, is it alright, sweetheart?" she said with a tone of relief, then went to Peng. Her voice was low, because the glass coffin seemed to distort her voice, and with the water got worse communication, but it was possible to understand what she said.

He nodded positively with the intention of saying he was fine. Then he pulled back from her and looked at my mother and I then made a gesture with his hands to ask how we would free Lian.

My mother swam to the glass coffin and then hit it twice, slowly, paying attention to the sound to know if the glass was thick enough so that we could break it. Then she made a positive signal with her hand, and asking for us to get near, she grabbed the bottom of the glass coffin and tried to lift it, ie she wanted our help to raise the glass coffin and leave Lian 'standing'.

We understood and soon approached to help. The coffin was heavy, even if things seem lighter in the water, it seemed to weigh over a hundred pounds. I held the coffin with even more strength and propped my feet on the bridge, then tried to push with my legs to lift all that weight.

Doing such strength made me feel my lungs clench. I needed to hold as much air as I could, if I didn't, I could easily drown. Soon we lifted that thing.

So my mother and Peng stood in front of Lian. She tried to explain the female snow leopard that she would break the glass that was in front of her, and put her arm in front of eyes asking her to do the same when that the glass was broken.

"Try to hold your breath as much as you can! It's a big..." Peng tried to explain that she would have to hold as much breath as possible before the glass was broken, but the water has left his voice distorted, and Lian interrupted.

"What?" she asked.

"I said you need to hold your breath as much as..." Peng tried to speak louder, but he started getting out of breath to speak.

"WHAT?" she asked again. Peng gave up trying to explain with words what she should do and tried to explain with gestures, but with this came a problem.

Peng had to explain that she should take a deep breath to hold her breath as much as she could, and for that he would pretend he was filling his lungs with air. Then he put his hands in front of stomach and would rise them as he filled his lungs.

But I had a bad feeling that it wouldn't end well. Peng had just work hard to raise that glass coffin and then tried to Say what Lian should do. I was already feeling the water pressure squeezing my lungs and also was already swallowing dry, although we were not for a long time underwater, we were nearly 20 meters deep, and it complicated to try to hold your breath.

Peng was already clearly out of breath, he couldn't open his left eye and his neck was tense, as if it was getting hard to hold his breath. It was clear what would happen if he tried to show to Lian that she should take a deep breath.

"PENG, NO!" Viper yelled to try to stop him, but in vain. Peng breathed through his nose and began to drown.

He coughed several and long times to try to get water from the lungs, but it wouldn't help, and soon he began to faint. Me, Viper, Lian and my mother knew that Peng should lead to the surface as quickly as possible, but we were too shocked to act quickly.

Peng drowned in a way that made him look like a complete idiot, he had good intentions, but what he did was something stupid that could have cost him his life. I wondered briefly if that happened and no one was around to help him, a genius of kung fu would have died, but that was no way to die. The four of us put our hand on the forehead by shame of the stupidity of our friend.

After that, my mother did a signal to Viper, pointing to Peng and then up, asking her to take him to the surface. She got the message, so she curled up on Peng's forearm and pulled him up.

My mother stood in front of Lian and explained her what Peng was meaning, with exactly the same gesture, but she wasn't foolish to the point of drowning herself to do so. Lian nodded that she understood, then took a deep breath and put her arms in front of face.

With a mighty blow, my mother knocked on the glass with the palm of his right hand, and slowly the glass was cracking. The glass broke and the water came in glass coffin, which was soon reduced to shards of glass. We were ready to return to the surface, but something unexpected has made the three of us stay with the feeling that we are being observed, and a shiver went through our spine.

We heard the noise of something swimming near us, the bubbles left a trail that went around us. But it was very quick, we could only see a huge black shape pass quite close to the rock walls, and it looked like it was coming ever closer. That thing went right near us and then disappeared, plunging to the abyss. I was looking down to see if I could see where that thing had gone.

"LIU! BEHIND YOU!" Lian shouted to warn me, but I took too long to turn around.

I felt like I had taken a very strong blow on my back, making me bow down my back and loose some air through the mouth, then something big grabbed me by the neck and pulled me to the bottom at high speed.

"LIU!" my mother shouted, swimming to the bottom along with Lian trying to help me, but I was being taken to the bottom faster than they could follow.

Trying to escape and save my life, I held what was holding my neck and I realized it was a huge hand. I did much strength to try to open the fingers of that hairy hand that was squeezing my windpipe, but didn't succeed.

Then after a few seconds pulling me to the bottom, that thing pulled me even harder and threw me to the ground, which was probably the end of the abyss. I opened my eyes and then widened them in amazement.

It was Hirohito Li. While still squeezing my neck and holding me against the floor, he stared at me and then gave a sinister laugh.

"It's time for you to die, frightened kitten!" he threatened me, raising the other hand above his head and closing his fists.

I was already at the limit of my breath, the despair of being pulled to the bottom of that dark and flooded abyss for something I didn't know what was, made me struggled to save my life, dropping a lot of air that I was holding , not to mention the enormous pressure that the water was doing in my lungs.

Being without air was a horrible feeling, I seemed to have the need to fill my lungs, but if I did, it would be my end. In the absence of air I couldn't do more strength to free myself, and then the huge gorilla made what I feared.

With a colossal strength, Hirohito Li gave me a powerful punch in the stomach, making me loose part of the air I had left. Then he continued punching, but I couldn't believe the speed with which he was doing this, he was hitting me about five punches per second, and it was abnormal.

Someone his size shouldn't be able to have such speed, even more underwater. And he was doing very strong blows, as if he was in ground.

Each punch looked like it would rip my organs. I moaned in pain, it was agonizing, and I could no longer hold my breath, I opened my mouth by loosing air, but I hadn't exactly air to loosen, so it looked like I was trying to swallow dry in my throat. I guess I had never experienced such a bad and agonizing feeling as being breathless under the water.

After countless seconds of pain, he stopped punching me and freed my neck. I almost involuntarily tried to swim up and flee to breathe, but that bastard did it on purpose to annoy me, and soon after he grabbed my leg and pulled me down. I was almost unconscious, but after he pulled me down I opened my left eye.

I didn't hear what he had said after that, but I saw his lips move and say 'Die!'. He punched me in the face, making my nose and mouth bled and my vision got blurred, then he swam away and disappeared into the water, leaving me to drown.

I've had no strength, no air, my joints ached and my stomach felt like it was tearing inside. I've already been in situations where I was close to dying, but never like this time. I looked up and saw the light of the bridge where I was before, it seemed so far away, I wasn't sure if I could reach it.

After all I went through, everything I fought for and in all I have believed, this just could not end this way. Suddenly, I felt a rush of adrenaline and my strength back. I would not die like that in this place!

I recomposed myself and tried my best to swim to the surface, slowly but without stopping. Every meter that I went up, it seemed that my heart was accelerating more, it seemed that it was almost going out of my mouth.

I looked at the light at the top of the cave that seemed to shine more and more as I went up, but I felt my body weaken, and soon I would be unable to continue. I started feeling that the water was cold again, and I went up to the surface more and more slowly.

I started to close my eyes again, and what I feared most happened. A flashback of my life began to flash before my eyes, I was starting to die.

The images began with moments when I was younger, where I was playing happily in a waterfall with my family. Then I saw my family gathering at home for the meal, then we ate the delicious mom's noodles. Then one of the saddest pictures of my life, going to the burial of my parents, after they get sick and die tragically from a plague. Then I saw my coming along with my brothers to the Bao Gu Orphanage, where we lived for years. I saw our first friends and moments again; it took long for we continue following our normal lives without our parents, but after a while we could even laugh together.

But the moments of happiness ended with the following vision, which saw the death of my little sister, Lin, after contracting measles, what left me and my brothers in shock for weeks. Months later came the death of my brother younger than me, Huan, who after the death of Lin, started getting sick, until one day he could take no more and died, leaving me, mostly, very sad, almost getting into depression. And then came the vision of the moment that i guess was the one that more affected my feelings, my older brother, Shun, was walking with me in the woods with other orphans, until we heard an orphaned bunny cry for help, she was inside an abandoned blacksmith shop and was afraid of sharp and rusty things that were there; my brother and I went inside to help, but when we were leaving, the wind closed the only exit door and it got stuck.

Shun tried to open the door with all his strength, but without success, then I asked to try, so I knocked on the door with my shoulder to try to open it; after repeating this a few times, part of the roof that was above me fell, but before the big chunks of concrete and metal beams reach me, Shun jumped on me, knocked me to the ground and lay on top of me to protect me. He accomplished his goal of protecting me, but a small and pointy steel beam went through his shoulder; I helped him to take off that rusty thing of half a meter from his shoulder and took him to the orphanage as fast as I could. He was strong, and incredibly after two weeks he had even recovered from the fractured shoulder, but in the following week he started getting sick, getting a fever, horrible muscle spasms and excessive sweating.

I remembered these and other symptoms get worse every day, and the nights crying after a doctor said he wouldn't survive. After long and difficult weeks, I was awakened in the middle of one night, Shun wanted to see me urgently; he said he would die soon, and while crying he asked me to be strong throughout my life, and made me promise that I would never give up to fight for what is right. After I promised him that, he smiled slightly and closed her eyes; the only family I had left now was dead and remained only in my memory.

Then I saw other moments I had in the Bao Gu Orphanage. I felt alone even in the crowd and among friends, especially when I went the second time to the Children's Day event at Jade Palace, because when I was practicing kung fu, I had the impression that Lin, Huan and Shun were there with me. When this happened, I had to hide myself from the others so they couldn't see me cry.

But after so much sadness that happened during that period of my life, I finally had a good vision of my life. I had a vision shortly after I hide to cry, where in an empty hall of the Jade Palace I sat; but I soon stopped crying, I had heard the voices of my family, they were talking to me: "Liu, never give up!" - "Liu, be strong! We will always be by your side" - "Liu, enjoy your life and see how beautiful it is! Be happy!" - "Liu, I always believed in you and always knew that you could do anything you want! Show me that I was right!" - "Liu, you promised me! Follow your life, create dreams and perform them! And Never let anyone tell you what you can or can not do!" they told me. I stopped crying at that moment, thanked them and went to the bathroom to compose myself.

After that, I could see that I still had a lot to live and that I could be happy. So that on the same day, during the Children's Day event, I saw the Furious Five teaching other the children with determination, and soon had my first dream: to be adopted by one of the Furious Five and become one of them, afterall I always liked martial arts, and next to them I believed I'd find my place in this world. It also reminded me of when I had my first crush when I was fighting my last opponent in the Children's Day event, the final fight, and saw a very beautiful boy, a snow leopard, strong and with a deep look, called Kong.

It was simply love at first sight, I almost fainted of staring at him, but as soon as the fight started I came out of the trance. The fight lasted a few seconds, until I accidentally break his nose. It was the end of the event and of the day, so then we went back to the orphanage, where I went to apologize to him, which to my surprise he accepted without problems. Days passed, we became friends, the friendship grew, until one day he took me around the riverbank and gave me a slow and sweet kiss, and asked me in dating. For a long time I didn't feel alone anymore, thanks to our love; we were very happy.

But as nothing that is good lasts forever, three years later, during another Children's Day event, we were the finalists of the tournament, again. I always beat him, but this time something different and strange happened. Kong looked different, he was a serious and furious somehow, and when the fight began he attacked me as if I were his enemy. I dodged nimbly, was afraid to hit him, in the fight it was forbidden to face-contact, and he was trying to hit mostly in my face. I asked him to stop and take more care, but he would not listen, so I found myself forced to defend myself, and I ended up winning after a long combat.

Then, when we were returning to the Bao Gu Orphanage, I asked what happened. He rudely told me that he couldn't stand living next to someone better at kung fu than him, and that I had destroyed the purpose of his life, which was to be a kung fu master one day. I apologized to him several times, but he refused to accept, and even tried to hit me. I defended myself, broke his nose again and told him to never even look at me again.

It was hard finishing our dating, but it didn't matter much for me anymore, I wouldn't bring this sadness in my life, after all I also had my best friend, Tuggsy, to keep me company and make me happy. But after this vision came the memory of one of the best moments of my life, the coming of Master Tigress to the Bao Gu Orphanage. It was just a dream coming true, knowing that my room was her old room, sleeping in the same room, and our farewell after she had to return to the Jade Palace. Sometimes remembering this still make me cry.

But what shocked me most in my own flashback, was remembering when I was in the start of the staircase of the Jade Palace, after me being adopted, I looked up and saw that my dream had finally come true, and front of me was my foster mother, Tigress, reaching out to me for taking me up there.

Whenever I remembered this, I get thrilled. And to my surprise, after I have seen her reaching out to me, I opened my eyes, and she was there. The flashback was interrupted by I'm still alive, so I raised my hand slowly toward my mother, she held my hand and then pulled gently twice a rope that she was holding with the other hand, and we were pulled up.

We quickly arrived to the surface. But one thing scared me, I tried to breathe, but I couldn't. I put my hands in my throat and felt that my lungs and trachea were filled with water, and I couldn't expel that water so I could breathe, I went into despair.

The water level had risen and it had reached the height of the bridge where we were, so my mom raised her arm and Po helped to put us on the bridge. I was squirming by breathlessness, until Master Shifu turned me belly up.

"Don't move, Liu!" he asked me. I did my best to continue with my belly up and looking up, and then I saw that he left his fingers and hands, flat.

He struck quick blows to my stomach, my ribs, just above my chest, and once in my throat, I felt my body go limp and instantly relieved, then my eyes widened. Shifu turned me aside, and soon after I coughed, long and repeatedly to expel all the water that was suffocating me.

I could finally breathe. I sat down and took several deep breaths to try to catch my breath. I was dizzy and a little nauseous, then I looked around and heard others sigh of relief when they saw that I was fine. My mother approached me and gave me a hug.

"Thank goodness, Liu, you are okay! Forgive me for this...I...for my fault you almost died" she said and hugged me again.

"Wow! What a fright you gave us, Liu!" it was Peng, who apparently was fine.

"Yup! Luckily everything is fine" Shifu said then.

I was still trying to catch my breath. I felt weak, as if even to stay sit was hard, and I gradually got back to breathe normally. I heard something get out of the water and climb on the bridge, I feared it was Hirohito Li, but I realized that it was a female snow leopard hand holding the edge of the bridge, Lian's hand.

"P-phew! F-finally...I think t-this was the worst bath I've ever took...wait...LIU! Is she..." Lian was shivering. She would ask if I was okay, but before she could finish the sentence, Peng ran to her.

"LIAN!" Peng jumped in Lian to hug her and ended up knocking both into the water again.

We kept looking at that, motionless. I put my hand on my forehead again in outrage, because of his stupidity. When I saw Peng for the first time he seemed different, it seemed that it was only seen Lian, and he would changed completely, becoming even more playful than I and Po, but it was already getting out of hand.

"How cute..." my mother said wryly, then looked at me, as if she was disappointed with herself.

"Something's wrong, Mom?" I asked worried, then coughed to take out the remaining water that was in my lungs.

"Liu...I promised that I would never lose you again...and...I almost lost you...forever! Because of my mistake...you could..." she wept with sorrow, until I stop her.

"Don't apologize, mom...This was not your fault! And I also made a promise...I promised that I would be brave and fight at your side and the others, to protect peace" I said, then stood up. She looked at me and gave a small smile of pride, then hugged me.

"But anyway, what had pulled you to the bottom of the abyss, Liu?" Lian said as she climbed on the bridge with the help of Peng.

"It was that bastard, Hirohito Li! He pulled me to the bottom, hit me until I couldn't hold longer, and then when I was breathless he went away and left me to die!" I explained, with a lot of anger in my voice.

"The leader of those gorillas? But, how? A guy with that size wouldn't be able to be quick at the point that we can not even see him! Even more in the water!" Lian said, surprised.

"I also don't know how he'd done it! Since our first battle in the Valley of Peace I realized something strange about him! One moment he is just strong, then he has broken the chest of his armor and he got extremely fast...I don't understand" I remembered, and after thinking the answer, I got confused again.

"I thought you guys had defeated the gang before you find us" Peng said.

"The goons yes, but this leader that you are talking about we haven't even seen" said Master Shifu.

"Big gorilla...armor...is he..." Viper said to herself.

"Something wrong, Viper?" Po asked.

"Ah...no...there's nothing wrong! I'm just thinking out loud" she replied.

I looked at my mother again. I felt very comfortable heat inside me, it was her presence. After I saw my life pass before my eyes, I had the feeling that my life made sense and now I was even more grateful to be alive.

I gave her a loving hug and dropped a tear of happiness. She didn't understand exactly why, but hugged me too.

"What's the matter, Liu? Something wrong?" she asked in a caring tone.

"No, Mom! It's alright...everything just perfect..." I replied. She was confused, but seemed to share my happiness, then smiled.

Then I realized that the water level was rising fast, it was already on the bridge. Once we all realize it, we went out of that place as fast as we could.

We passed several runners again, but this time we had a very bad feeling. The water was not only starting to get at the knees, but also began to leave the walls. They were cracking, and by the cracks were leaving water jets that beat on our shoulders and increased the water level even faster.

I barely could walk now, afterall I recently had drowned, and had no time to catch my breath. The pain from the beating that I had taken prevented me even more from moving normally. My stomach was hurting so bad, that I had to run shuffling and with the body bent forward, ending up delaying the others.

I did my best to keep up with them, but ended up staying back, cause I could no longer move.

"H-hey! I can not ... run! Somebody help me" I said out of breath and in pain. Po stopped running and came back for me.

"Hold on! It's gonna shake a little" he put me on his right shoulder to carry me, then started running again.

We keep running until we get to a huge circular room that had a enormous spiral staircase that seemed to follow the way of the walls, leading to the exit of that place. Everyone quickly climbed except Po, who was away from the others and already in the first steps was breathless.

Po tried to keep his pace up the stairs, but as the place was breaking, a huge piece of the wall fell right in front of us, knocking down part of the stairs in front of us and unbalancing Po, which would fall into the hole below, carrying me along eventually.

The fall had more than 30 meters, and even with the water below, if we fell, the chances of dying were high. I had to think fast. While Po fall, I stood up from his shoulder, stretched my left arm to hold the edge of the other side and with great agility grabbed his hand with my right hand.

With this, I could save our lives, but then a problem occurred. I had to hold Po for he not fall, and when he hung, I felt all his weight of panda. It was like something was tearing me apart.

But the worst was that after a few seconds of trying to hold him, I felt the arm that was holding him weaken, and my shoulder dislocated. I let out a loud scream of pain.

"LIU! What happened? Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"AAAH! NO, PO! My shoulder...is...dislocated!" I said with a lot of pain and doing as much strength as I could to not let us fall.


	5. Chapter 1 (part 5)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **01\. Meeting an old friend (part 5)**

"Wait, Liu! Hold on just a little longer, I'll climb you and try to pull us up" he said.

The idea might work, but Po could not climb. My arm was hurting a lot and the palm of the hand I was using to hold me on the staircase was tingling. I felt a slight dizziness, until another unexpected thing happened, the part of the staircase where my hand was began to break, and if we couldn't get out of there we would fall.

I saw that we didn't have much time, so I concentrated my best to gather my strength and forget the pain. Now it didn't matter if I was exhausted, with a dislocated shoulder and with my hand slipping from the edge, I needed to do something, and fast.

"PO! HOLD ON!" I asked. So I started using a force that neither I knew I had, and with only one arm, began to rise up slowly.

It seemed that my muscles and arteries were going to burst, a huge effort to do what was necessary, but I would not give up. So I passed my neck of the height of the staircase, then I did much more strength to move only my forearm that I was using to hold Po, lifting him until he was able to hold on staircase.

He managed to hang on, so I could release him. I felt an enormous relief, so great that it almost made me faint, but I shaked my head to remain aware. I tried to climb alone, but wasn't able to with just one arm and exhausted. After Po get up, the part of the staircase where I was holding myself broke and I fell.

"LIU!" Po shouted when he saw that I had fell.

"Leave it to me!" it was Crane, he passed by Po giving a flyby, flying towards me to save me.

I was falling upside down, then looked down and saw that I was a few feet hit the water, but Crane grabbed me by my tail before that happens.

He saved me, but I was with the whole body aching and he was holding my tail too tightly. Crane had good intentions but he was hurting me.

"Ou-ou-Ouch! CRANE, thank you for saving me and all...but please stop carring me like this! You're almost Ripping Out My Tail! AAAH" I asked, trying to hold his lean leg with my hand, to grab it and hold myself, instead of being carried that way.

"Oops! Sorry!" he apologized, then turned me around in the air to hold me by my arm that was not hurt.

Crane began to lead me up the stairs. I looked down to see if Po was okay, and I saw that my mother had come to help him. She was pulling him by the arm so he climbed faster.

"GUYS, WATCH OUT!" Monkey shouted above.

The roof was falling, and huge concrete blocks passed very close to us. Crane deflected them with agility, but our friends who were climbing the stairs were not so lucky. The blocks that fell destroyed the staircase leading up, and they were trapped. The space they had to avoid the blocks dwindled more and more, until Crane dodged a block, then we looked down and saw that it would fall upon our friends.

"NO!" I screamed, fearing that this was their end. But my concern stopped after I saw Master Shifu climb the wall, go toward the block, jump to it, and using the Touch of Silk technique (with the tip of the outstretched fingers, he lightly touched the stone), destroyed the huge block.

"Wow! Amazing!" I commented when I that.

"Ahh...Liu, I didn't want to spoil your joy, but That will not be amazing!" Crane said looking up. I looked up to see also what did he mean by that, and saw that we were really in trouble.

After part of the ceiling had fallen, we can see that within the concrete had several sticks of dynamite. The wick was getting shorter and soon all of them would explode in sync. But more blocks falling in our heads was now the least of our problems. As Peng had already told us before, d'whole place was underwater, and it was proved on that time.

Just above the stone blocks, we could see a huge amount of water fall in us. If it hit us right in the fall, would be our end, but Crane could divert, throwing us against the wall, but our problems were far from over. Within seconds, we were submerged in water.

The climb for our freedom had less than 10 meters and I had managed to hold enough air to get up to the surface, but Crane couldn't swim and was drowning, and while struggling, he pulled away from me, going to bottom of the cave again. Then an agonizing feeling came over me. I would normally be able to just swim down to him and save him, but I wouldn't be able to do this with a dislocated arm. Incidentally, after I tried to move myself to help him and see that my movements were limited, I was dubious even if I could save my own life, but I needed to save Crane.

See him thrashing from side to side, drowning and going to the bottom again, and not been able to do something was like torture. I couldn't let my friend die, so I made a great effort with just my left arm to dive, then I clung lightly around his neck and tried to hit my legs to pull us up, but it was too much weight for me to try pull.

Before that everything was lost, I felt someone pulling me by the back of my top shirt, it was Monkey and Mantis. They pulled us up to the surface, and helped us get to swim ashore. After catching my breath I looked around me to see if I could figure out where we were. I saw that the cave was d'down a huge lake, in front of me there was a grove and at distance I could see huge mountains and snow, with the sun setting on the horizon.

"Well...I think that in this direction is the Chorh-Gon prision, right?" I asked, pointing toward the mountains.

"Yup! It is more-or-less 20 kilometers from here!" Monkey replied, while making sure Crane was okay. Shortly after answering, I heard my friends coming to the surface, but I was worried.

First Master Shifu came out, then Viper and then lastly Peng and Lian, but they had already come ashore and my mom and Po hadn't left the water. Time passed and they didn't appear.

"M-Mom...Po...c'mon! Where are..." I stopped talking after listening a tree fall behind us. We all turned quickly and got in position to fight. And from the shadows of the forest came out something almost the same size as the trees, he walked slowly toward us, it was Hiroito Li.

"Well, well! It seems that you managed to escape the cave...what a unpleasant surprise! You were the first to accomplish this feat! And since you didn't die down there, I'll have to kill you with my own hands!" he said in an arrogant and confident tone, and it was disturbing. Until he stopped coming in our direction and firmly looked at just one of us, Viper. She crawled slowly and stayed ahead us.

"So, after all these years, the prison bars of Chorh-Gon could no longer hold you! You should have stayed in your cell, little guy!" Viper said to the huge gorilla, who growled in response.

"What? You know each other?" I asked, amazed and confused at the same time.

"Yes, Liu! I believe you know the stories of each of us, but since you didn't recognize him at first, let me introduce you...my first enemy...he was the villain who attacked my father when I was your age! This...is Hiroito Li!" Viper told me. That let me and others impressed. I would never have imagined that a villain from so long ago had returned to active, and much less that they knew each other.

"Spare this whole presentation! But, in fact...I remember that day like it was yesterday! The day that a miserable snake saved her dad and humiliated me in front of all of China!" he said, angrily.

"Well, I also remember, but you are totally different this time...your armor is different...and apparently the belly increased along with all the extra time, huh?" she teased. Hiroito Li was not fat, but it seemed that Viper was teasing on purpose.

"AHHHH! What did you just said?!...And YOU still an insolent brat! Well, you also changed a lot...but let's see if you still know how to dance like before, even without your pretty ribbons!" the giant gorilla threatened, then got into position to fight.

"Yes...show me your super speed! Although it won't help you" she teased again, leaving Hiroito Li furious.

We all fixed our feet on the ground, knowing that he was going to attack, but Viper didn't. That was very strange, she usually doesn't irritate her opponents before fighting, or had so much confidence. Viper seemed to know what she was doing, but things seemed to be going out of range, our enemy was very strong, so that even the Dragon Warrior and Peng couldn't defeat him. How she intended to defeat that huge gorilla, was still a mystery.

Hiroito Li leaned to the side and then we could only see his figure disappear from the front. He hadn't gone our way, he went into the forest and began to run from one side to the other. To know where he was, it was necessary to pay attention to the sounds of breaking branches and leaves flying in the wind. He even passed in front of Viper, but you could only see the smoke trail, and the scariest part was that she remained motionless.

"Wow! This speed is not normal! Even more for a guy his size!" Shifu said surprised.

"It's true! How can he be so fast? It's almost impossible to track his movements" Crane said.

"Well...I remember that when the guards came for him in my village, they could barely lift him off the ground, so we had to take him to prison in a cart! In prison, his armor proof-poison couldn't be removed, and he was arrested along with it...but I think that this is other armor, and he had stole it! Yes! This one is a prototype that was being done for the Emperor"

"And what of special this armor has?" asked Mantis, while accompanying Hiroito Li, who was running through the woods.

"The Emperor asked to be made a new armor for him, the most resistant to any kind of attack that was within reach of chinese hands! So after a long time and joining several different metals, blacksmiths were finally able to make a tough enough armor to resist even to a shot from close distance of the most powerful cannon of our armies, and still stay intact! I'm still impressed that Liu, Peng and Po managed to destroy much of it" she explained.

"Wow...but...what does this have to do with his incredible speed?" asked Monkey.

"Well, if we think that it is made of various metals, which is large enough to be used by our little friend, and how stiff it is...surely it must have at least a ton! Incredibly he managed to use it and practice kung fu with it, and when he took all that weight of the body, after years without having taken it off, he acquired this speed" Shifu explained.

"And this combined with his colossal strength, makes him an extraordinary warrior!" said Mantis.

"How can we defeat a guy like him?" said Lian.

"That's easy!" Viper crept forward a bit more after answering, then put the tail on the path that Hiroito Li would pass. He ran, and after stumbling on her tail, he rolled at high speed and stopped after hitting a tree with his back. We laughed.

"Hahaha...Oh! Damn, my arm is still hurting..." I stopped laughing because of the pain. I put my hand on my dislocated shoulder to relieve pain, then stopped to think that I should do something about my dislocated shoulder, after all I would be fighting soon, and the lack of an arm would be a big problem.

"Well, before we start the real fight, I want you know a simple thing to beat him: he is fast and strong, but he is easily angered, and it disturbs him a lot during the fight! Make him stumble was just for fun...however...you can not beat him in a fight hand-to-hand combat, to defeat him, we need to use his own movements!" she explained.

"But how are we going to hit or knock him, if we can't even see him?" I asked, having no idea how she hoped we'd be able to do what she said.

"When he is running we can't see him very well, but he has to slow down when he is close to us, if he doesn't he wouldn't manage to hit the scams and wouldn't be able to fight!" she answered, intimating that it would be easy to do.

"And about you, Liu, stay behind the others to don't hurt yourself! You will not fight!" said Master Shifu. I got outraged by that.

"WHAT?! Why? It's more than my duty to defeat this guy! And I'm not hurt up to the point of not fig...Ouch!" I tried to convince him that I was able to fight, but the truth was that I was in pain and knew I had no conditions to fight. I couldn't accept that the pain would stop me from helping my friends.

"That was not a question, Liu! You're in no condition to fight! If you try to fight an enemy like this gorilla with only one arm, you can end up hurting yourself even more! And your mother would kill us all if that happen..." Master Shifu replied, taking a small shiver to think of my mother when she's angry.

"...Ah! Okay! I will...VIPER, WATCH OUT!" I yelled to warn her, after seeing Hiroito Li coming our way, ready to strike with a punch squarely on her. Then I had the impression of seeing everything in slow motion. Viper turned to the big gorilla, curled around his arm that he would use to punch her, broke loose to hit with the tip of the tail in his face, with great agility grabbed his wrist and pulled him in the opposite direction of the movement, doing a belly flop and come towards us, rolling.

We jumped out of the way of that big ball of fur, and after bouncing three times on the water he sank in the lake, 10 meters from where we were.

"Wow! Incredible" I praised. Viper smiled in response.

"Incredible, Viper! Then we only need to use locking techniques and then attack! This fight won't take long to end!" Peng said with confidence.

After looking at the lake again, I remembered that Po and my mother hadn't risen to the surface yet. I was very worried. They were just a little behind the others in the cave, but even so they should have already managed to climb to the surface. Without realizing it, I had walked to the lake shore and was looking at it's bottom. Then I saw something swimming in my direction, by the size it seemed to be Po, but I was terribly wrong.

It was Hiroito Li, who was swimming towards me, but before I could escape, he quickly swam up to me and gave me a powerful punch on the chin, throwing me into the air and away from my friends. I fell back on the floor, and then, with difficulty, looked at the lake and saw the trail of water from the gorilla who had done a great jump out of the water.

Then I looked up and saw that he was above me, and after falling he would give me another punch. I wouldn't have time to dodge, but Crane flew towards Hiroito Li, after doing his typical cackling, and did a powerful side blow with his wing, making the gorilla be thrown away from me.

"You okay, Liu?" he asked. I agreed nodding my head. My jaw was hurting a lot, luckily I had not bitten my tongue. I tried to get up, but I forgot that my shoulder was dislocated and when I went to support my arm on the ground, I fell back on the floor again.

"Ouch! Ah...Darn it!" I said, with pain. That shoulder was bothering me most for preventing me from moving than by the pain. Mantis and Crane stayed in front of me to protect me.

"Let's put an end on this! Crane, Mantis, protect Liu while we take care of it! Peng, Lian, get ready to do the final blow when we give the signal! The others come with me, let's avail that the Chorh-Gom Prison is near and let's take a little something to the guards!" said Master Shifu, coordinating what each should do.

"Right!" everyone said together, but me. As it seemed, my first mission would end like this, me with a dislocated shoulder, without having fought in the most important moment and coming home carried by someone, because my legs were shaking by having to support my whole body aching.

Viper, Monkey and Master Shifu went on the attack. Hiroito Li tried to hit the first blow, using a double punch to hit Viper and Master Shifu, but each one dodged, grabbed the forearm of the gorilla, parted to opposite sides and caused him to be with open arms, opening his guard by complete. Thus, Monkey took the chance and went on the attack, first doing a backflip and hitting a kick to the face of the gorilla, then he did a series of quick punches on the belly, and finally he dodged a side kick of the gorilla, rolling beneath his legs, to finally make a traditional stroke, pulling the underwear of the enemy almost to shoulder length.

Monkey moved away laughing, but it obviously left Hiroito Li very angry. He had to kneel because of the pain in the butt and after putting his underwear in the right place he let out a roar of anger.

"AAAAH! YOU MISERABLE! I WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS! AFTER I BEAT YOU, I WILL TAKE YOU AND HANG YOU BY YOUR UNDERWEAR ON A MAST TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR YOUR STUPIDITY!" he shouted angrily. We laughed, and Monkey laughed even more.

"What an amazing idea! It would be the best prank ever! One day I'll try this idea, thank you! Wow...and I was thinking that only I thought these kinds of shenanigans" he said, further irritating the gorilla.

Hiroito Li hit several times in his chest and roared, and when he'd run with his super speed to hit Monkey, he fell flat on his face. Viper had held his foot.

"It's more funny in the Second time! Hahaha" she said.

I would have laughed together, but my preoccupation with my mother and the Dragon Warrior was too big, I couldn't stop thinking about it, and how others simply didn't realize or even seemed to be worried.

"Something's wrong, Liu? You look worried! Why do you keep looking at the lake?" said Crane.

"Of course I'm worried, Crane! My mother and Po haven't got out of this lake yet! How you didn't notice it?! Po and Tigress are your friends and live with you for years, then How do you simply just don't care?" I asked, now even more indignant with the nonchalance of them.

"Of course we're friends a long time, Liu! And we're not worried because we Know they are fine" said Mantis with tranquility.

"But how can you know that they're okay if they're not here and ..." I'd ask, but I stopped after listening Peng shouting while flying in my direction. He had been struck by the gorilla, and ended up hitting me, knocking us both.

"Ouch...This guy...he's strong! Damn! We'll have to try it again just because I missed the final blow" Peng blamed himself.

"Peng...I regret that you missed the blow, but that's no reason for you to stay on top of me and leaning ON MY SHOULDER WHICH IS DISPLACED!" I screamed in pain.

"Ops! Sorry!" he apologized, then helped me stand up, but he grabbed me by the wrong arm.

"PEEENG! Your pushover! That's my arm that's hurt! Go on, help the others before you hurt me again!" I said nervously. Peng seemed to be making nonsenses of purpose, and that's what pissed me off. He gave a shy laugh in apology, then ran to the fight again.

The others were galling Hiroito Li a lot and striking him with speed, using the Viper' tips. When the gorilla became dizzy, they gave the signal to Peng to do the final blow that would end the fight. Peng ran towards him, but when he was close to give the final blow, Hiroito Li fell back and smashed Peng. We were all looking at that with great indignation.

"Oh really?! Nor would I be crushed like that!" said Mantis with irony.

"AH! What a heck, Peng! You were not fighting like this in the Valley of Peace! Stop making jokes near Lian and start fighting for real!" I said indignated. Then the gorilla got up slowly and looked at us.

"ENOUGH! I've never been so humiliated since the day I lost a fight for this talking noodle! Now you will feel the wrath of my true power!" he said, referring to the Viper. And as I watched from a distance, Mantis rose on my shoulder.

"Liu, you had said that your shoulder was dislocated?" he asked me.

"...Yes...some time ago...why?" I asked then. Soon after I reply, Mantis stroke a pressure point on my shoulder three times, then jumped to the ground.

"...Sorry, but I guess it didn't work" I said, but without having noticed, I raised my arms to stretch myself.

"Well, what a pity! Apparently you're too tired to fight" he said ironically, but I didn't understand.

"Tired to fight? What do you mean..." I'd ask, but I realized that I was scratching my head with my right hand. He had put my shoulder back in place. I jumped in joy, thanked him quickly and went running towards that gorilla that I so wanted to fight, but Crane stepped lightly on my tail, preventing me from going.

"Nope! You stay here, as Master Shifu said!" he told me.

"Oooh...Please! I need this fight! Don't you understand? He must pay for what he did with us, and is a matter of honor that it's me who defeat him! I failed in my mission to protect the Valley of Peace...the least I should do now is defeat him" I blurted. Crane and Mantis, looked at each other as if they knew how I felt. They would say something, but the thunderous sound of the roar of Hiroito Li turned our eyes to him.

He had roar loudly, until his voice get almost hoarse. Then he used his super speed to get away from others. Then, an unforeseen happened, a counterattack, Hiroito Li reacted to the attacks he was taking. He first attacked Lian, throwing her into the forest, then gave a powerful punch on Peng's belly, making him faint instantly; then grabbed Monkey by the tail and threw him against a boulder, causing the stone crack in half and Monkey stayed on the ground moaning in pain; then he attacked Master Shifu with a punch in the face, throwing him several feet up.

"Master Shifu!" Exclaimed Crane worried, then quickly flew towards him for not letting he fall on the ground, but soon after picking him up a few feet off the ground, Hiroito Li jumped up and slapped both hands together at the back of Crane , throwing him and Master Shifu on the ground and opening a small hole in it.

"Master Shifu! Crane!" me and Mantis shouted. Then we noticed that all who had been struck were passed out.

"You bastard!" Viper came toward Hiroito Li, with hatred. She managed to dodge a lot of the gorilla's scams, but couldn't hit him even a single blow. After a few seconds, the gorilla grabbed Viper by the tip of her tail and threw her against the floor, very violently, tearing a hole in the ground where she had been thrown.

"NOOOOO!" Mantis shouted as he ran to help Viper. He jumped into the giant villain shoulders and hit several crippling blows across the arm holding Viper. The giant free her. After helping his friend, Mantis hit a powerful kick in the face of the gorilla.

But the gorilla would fulfill about what he had said. After being struck, Hiroito Li quickly grabbed Mantis, squeezed him with all his strength and then threw him against the ground, crushing him. When he took his hand off him, I saw that Mantis had also been defeated and now was passed out. Only I was standing on that battlefield now.

"NO! ENOUGH! Up to now the others had prevented me from fighting, but I've already seen my friends suffer too much! I won't allow you to win this battle...NEVER!" I yelled, running toward him. Actually, I didn't know exactly what I would do to defeat him, but I couldn't stand staring at my friends getting hurt, and do nothing.

But I was careless, leaving hatred take care of me, and that is dangerous during a fight of life-or-death. I wanted so much just break each of the bones of that gorilla, that I didn't even realize that he could also attack me anytime. I jumped after running to strike with a punch on him, but he was too fast, and then he addition to diverting, landed a powerful punch in my stomach, leaving me hanging around his fist and making me breathless.

That punch seemed to have ripped my guts, by how strong it was. Then he grabbed my head with the other hand and threw me away from him.

"HAHAHA! You really think you can beat me? How foolish you are! Even the greatest warriors of All China couldn't, then why are you still trying, fearful kitten?" he asked sarcastically after laughing.

"Because...because...it's my duty to protect...China...and my friends!...I won't give up...until you are beaten...even if it cost the my life" I explained, with pain and breathlessness. That made him laugh harder.

"Let's see if you will laugh after That, big guy!" Viper stood up, grabbed herself in the neck of Hiroito Li and started to squeeze his throat with all her strength. The big gorilla tried to pull her away while struggling, but he couldn't, and as he tried to free himself, Viper squeezed even more.

Hiroito Li's face began to get blue and saliva was falling from his mouth, until he was becoming increasingly breathless and stood knee. Viper still doing more and more strength to tighten his throat, until the gorilla didn't have more strength to try to loosen her, and then he fell on his face, unconscious. Breathless, Viper loosened him and tried to catch her breath.

"YEAH, VIPER! You did it!" I celebrated, doing Viper try to smile while breathing deeply to catch her breath. But the moment of happiness ended when I saw that Hiroito Li opened one eye and stood up quickly.

"TAKE THAT!" he shouted as he raised one arm to give impetus to the punch he would use to hit Viper. She turned, but wasn't fast enough to dodge, and the gorilla hit right over her head, burying her in the ground.

"VIPER!" I exclaimed, after seeing her head buried in the ground. She had contorted her body after being hit, but one thing worried me even more. Viper's body went limp, but not as if she had fainted, she appeared to be dead. She didn't move anymore and didn't even do a noise.

"No! I will not laugh at that, talking noodle! You almost killed me, but for sure a reason to laugh is how naive you were thinking that you had defeated me! Hahahahaha!" he laughed then.

That was the last straw. I couldn't believe that that bastard now hadn't only hurt one of my friends, but he had taken the life of someone important to me. My anger was so great that I couldn't control myself.

"V-Viper...no! No...NO! Damn It! I won't forgive you for this! DISAPPEAR!" I yelled with sadness and then anger, and then used the technique that Po taught me, the Thundering Wind Hammer, spinning at high speed without going anywhere until it forms a dark blue ball of energy in my hand and then throwing it in my enemy.

The technique would be accurate, but Hiroito Li used his super speed and dodged from my sphere of energy. The dark blue sphere went towards the forest, and the blow, made a strong wind that destroyed the trees that were a distance of 5 meters. After dodging, the big gorilla walked away from me and stood at a distance of 30 meters.

"Nice shot! Now it's My turn!" he said. That certainly wouldn't be good, I knew what he had in mind.

He began doing moves of tai chi at an amazing speed, and then raised his right hand above his head, thus making the Mongolian Fireball. That fireball was growing more and more, until it get with the same size as the body of Hirohito Li. The last time he did that technique, he defeated me, Peng and the Dragon Warrior, only seeing it again, I already felt a chill.

He threw it against me. With the lake behind me and the speed he threw the big ball of fire, I wouldn't be able to escape; I stretched my arms forward in hopes of stopping the technique. Then I came across a scene that seemed to happen in slow motion, my mother and Po did a great jump out of the lake until they get two meters above me, and the two together swirled in the air in a great speed to do the Thundering Wind Hammer.

"TRY THIS HERE!" they shouted together, then threw the ball of energy at the fireball. The spheres of Po and Tigress (green and red, respectively) joined in one sphere, which get a yellow color, then went through the fireball and disintegrated it, heading toward Hiroito Li.

"NOOO" he moaned just before being hit. The ball of my mother and Po hurled the gorilla by several meters inland the forest, then caused a huge burst of energy with more than 20 feet high; it was simply an extraordinary attack, leaving a large crater in the ground to prove.

After the explosion, I felt that the two held on my shoulder.

"Liu, are you okay?" they said in sync. I stared at them for a few seconds and then hugged them; my concern had now ended.

"Yup! I'm fine, and much better now! Wow...you left me worried! Why were you hiding in the lake and didn't help us before?" I asked.

"On a mission, it's very important that you always have someone to give strengthen if things get bad, Liu" Po explained with a smile.

"Since everyone had left the lake before us, we find it would be to wait in the lake if there was any ambush, then we hide! After we saw that only the big guy was up here, we only left the lake when we saw you were in trouble!" my mother continued.

"Well...you...could have come a little sooner, y'know!" said Viper, with much pain, no been able to lift her head. After her, the others also agreed, but none of them could stand up. I smiled with joy when I saw that everyone was fine, especially when I saw that Viper wasn't dead.

"Oh...wait a minute! How you two managed to stay underwater so long?...I know there's a specific technique to hold your breath longer, but still you wouldn't be able to stay down there throughout our battle!" I questioned, confused.

"Hehehe...well, that's true! We would never be able to stay underwater for so long! Not to mention that I can't hold my breath as well as your mother, and that's why..." Po was explaining, but after looking at my mother, who was watching him with a death glare, he stopped telling me. Po looked just so cheerful, somehow strange even for him.

"Shut up! If you tell someone what happened, I swear I'll make you swallow you tongue!" she threatened in a cool, low tone, that only the three of us listened. Po tried to contain a laugh, but he couldn't. I was even more confused.

"Hehehe...Viper! Let me help you" Po walked to Viper to help her, still laughing. Then, my mother approached me.

"I'm pretty sure he'll tell you, Liu! Just...know that it's not true...I didn't like it...Ops! I mean ...uh...Tell me if he tells you something!" she tried to explain herself, very ashamed. Then she went towards Master Shifu and the others.

"Hah?!...Well...okay?!" I confirmed, still a little confused. I looked at her going in the other direction, and I ended up seeing another thing that left me stunned.

Hiroito Li hobbled out of the forest, slowly. He had many scratches and burns throughout the body. But the point was that he was alive, even after an amazing combination of power used in one destructive technique. Nobody would be able to survive something like that and still come back to fight.

"...HAHA! You will need much more than only an attack to defeat The Great Hiroito Li! The most powerful warrior of all China!" he said after a sarcastic laugh.

We all looked at it in amazement. It was hard to believe that the battle wasn't over yet. The others tried to get up to continue fighting, but couldn't.

"It can't be...this guy...is he immortal?!" said Po. He and my mother stood side-by-side and entered their positions to fight, staying in front of me to defend me. I wasn't going to let they keep protecting me this time, so I get beside my mother and also got into fighting position.

"Liu, stay behind us! This is too dangerous for you!" she ordered me.

"Sorry, mom...but I Can't just stand behind someone longer and see my friends get hurt! I'm going to fight!" I said firmly.

The problem was that after I say it, a large figure went too fast around us, and after it disappeared, Po had been struck in the stomach and thrown in the lake again; with such force that he bounced in the water five times before sinking. Hiroito Li was using his super speed to continue fighting even after being seriously injured. My mother and I were worried about that, then we stayed back to one another to protect ourselves.

When the huge gorilla's figure passed, only a small trail of dust lay on the ground. I looked around and couldn't see which direction he would attack us, until I felt my mom grab me by my wrist and throw me away from her. I didn't understand why, but then I raised my head and saw that she put both arms in front of her face to defend herself. The gorilla would attack us both by our side and we were not going to get astray.

She chose to save me and take the hit alone. Then something worrying, Hiroito Li hit her in the belly with all his colossal strength. His fist sank both on her belly, that it was possible to see the shape of his huge hand on my mother's back. She gave a great groan of pain and then fell to the ground.

"TIGRESS!" the others shouted, concerned. I also was going to scream, but the words stuck in my mouth. Seen that, was a great shock to me, I couldn't take my eyes of my mother, now on the floor.

"...Damn...I'm running out of strength...looks like I'll have to eat my last energy mochi...just to finish off this brat...and those other trash... Ah! Whatever" I heard him saying while breathing deeply to catch his breath, then he took a white mochi inside a small leather pouch and began to eat it.

"Ah...Damn It!...I'm Pathetic!...Completely Pathetic" I said to myself, closing my fists tightly, in anger. My friends were shocked with what I said.

"Don't blame yourself, Liu...none of this is your fault" Master Shifu tried to console me as he tried to get up, but I didn't give much attention to him, a horrible feeling of guilt and hatred overtook me. I couldn't think of other things at that moment but my weakness and mistakes.

"How can I be so Useless!...WHAT THE HECK! I WANTED TO BE STRONGER!" I exclaimed, then punched the ground with all my strength.

"I find that very difficult to happen! Hehe!" said my enemy while eating his mochi.

"My friends are bruised...unable to continue fighting...and it's My Fault!...I wasn't able to protect them! All I did was...hurt myself...let my friends give their blood to protect me...and...I did NOTHING FOR THEM" I screamed with hatred, then punched the ground again. And then something scared everyone, right after I punch the ground a thunder sounded in the distance.

Something strange was happening, the sky began to darken, on the horizon it was visible thunderous lightnings, and a warm breeze passed over the place.

"Uh?...Damn it! I did not bring my umbrella" Hiroito Li said without worrying what was happening. But my friends, they were all still and looking around at all what was happening, after all, that wasn't normal.

"I...I don't believe that I could just...let something like this happen!...Now...for My Family...for my adoptive mother, Tigress...for My Friends...I'll show that I'm Not Worthless! I'll show what I Really Can Do!...I WILL FINISH WITH YOU OFF, HIROITO LI" I screamed with hatred as I tried to get up slowly, then stared blankly at my enemy. A ray fell wildly in the forest behind us, starting a small fire and being followed by several others. The thunders sounded like big explosions and it seemed there was a big static in the sky, with various electrical crackling.

I felt something strange inside me. When I stood, I couldn't just move, my body felt so heavy, but not because I was injured but because I feel a great energy flowing through my body. It was as if my body was going through some transformation, something was changing inside me. I growled as I saw my enemy quietly eating his energetic mochi, but no matter how much I wanted to rip him in half or break his neck, I just let that strange energy flow through my body. My anger was so great that I squeezed my hands more and more, until I felt the palm of my left hand bleed, and when I look at it, I got very surprised with what I've seen.

My hand was on fire. A kind of blue fire was doing a contour around my entire hand, but it was not burning me. After I saw it, I looked at the rest of my body and saw that the same fire that had the same color of my chi (dark blue), encircled my whole body, and the cut on the palm of my hand started to heal, and in a few seconds longer, it didn't even look like I had hurt myself. Everyone stared at me with astonishment.

"W-WHAT? WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?! Y-you're on fire! Why are you on fire?!" Hiroito Li asked stammering with fear. When I looked at him again, I felt that my pupil become long and thin, like of a poisonous snake, and squinted to face him.

"I have no idea how this is happening or what it is, the only thing I know now is that I'll end this fight here and right now! And You Gonna Fall" I said coldly, then dragged my right foot back to get into a simple fight position, just with my firm legs and with eyes fixed on my enemy. Another lightning struck very close to us.

"Do not be so confident! It does no matter that you've changed your appearance, you're still the same brat and I will still destroy you!...Since you fond of fire, then Try THIS!" he said and then exclaimed, throwing the Mongolian Fireball in my direction.

Something strange happened. I felt no fear when I saw that big ball of fire coming towards me, or even bother of moving myself to dodge the attack, it was like I didn't feel threatened by it. I was confident that I would be able to defend myself of that attack, so I just stretched my left hand forward to hold the ball of fire. Incredibly, after it touches the palm of my hand the Mongolian Fireball seemed to have vanished, leaving only a circular trail of smoke. Everyone stared at me with even more amazement after that. I looked at the palm of my hand, I felt no pain and didn't hurt myself.

"Wow! What...what was that?" I asked myself, impressed with my accomplishment.

"WHAT?! This is...Impossible! W-who are you?" Hiroito Li asked, the most amazed of all. I closed my fists in anger to answer.

"I'm...your worst nightmare..." I replied. Actually, I didn't know what to answer, but I always wanted to say this phrase during a fight. I felt like laughing, but if I laugh, the phrase wouldn't be so cool.

The gorilla didn't like my answer, then growled in answer and went on the attack with his super speed. Before, I couldn't follow his movements, but after that fire appeared on my body and my eyes have changed, I could clearly see his movements.

He tried to attack me with a right punch, staring at my face. Viper had told us to attack him using his own movements, but this because it wasn't possible to see him before. When he was almost hitting the punch at me, I just averted my head down and gave him a punch in the belly.

I haven't even left my place. It was a simple counterattack punch, but for the big gorilla it was much more than that. Even if I hadn't use much strength, the blow was accurate in the kidney region, a punch in this region is very painful. So much pain, Hiroito Li came to drool as he moaned in pain. The saliva fell on my ear, but when it touched the flame that was around me, it evaporated instantly. After the blow, he gradually moved away from me, dropped to his knees and put his hands in the battered region.

He wasn't exaggerating, the blow had really been very strong. It seemed that the technique I was using gave me an incredible strength. Now I would use this ability to defeat my enemy with ease. My friends had managed to get up, even my mother was leaning on the shoulder of Crane, and now were seeing me fight at a distance, but I didn't see Po.

"OOOouch...ouch! You freaking kid!...Damn...I think that energetic mochi didn't have much effect! Now I can't even fight this little girl" he lamented, as he gasped in pain.

"Don't blame the poor mochi! It isn't it's fault if you are no longer able to fight! Accept, you lost this fight, and will finally pay for all the pain you caused" I said in answer, but he didn't seem to have heard me.

"No...I am not going back to that disgusting prison! Listen, frightened kitten, you got really strong and won this fight...but I will back! I'll come back with a new armor and more soldiers! And when I return, I will destroy you and all the Valley of Peace! So I am warning you and these other fools, be prepared for when that happens" he said, turning his back to me, as if he was going to leave.

"HEY! Don't turn your back on me! This fight isn't over yet! And you won't get away this way" I said, preparing to run after him if he tried to escape.

"HA! You speak as if you could stop me" he replied, still with his back to me, then I saw he was going to use his super speed to escape.


	6. Chapter 1 (part 6) final

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Lui Zhang**

 **01\. Meeting an old friend (part 6)**

I felt a revulsion when he told me that. Whether he was faster than me, I wouldn't let him escape, and follow him wherever I needed, only to make justice and to do my duty. So another lightning passed near us, I ran to try to prevent him from escaping, and again a strange thing happened, my body seemed very light and I hadn't noticed before. When I ran, I almost tripped and, almost without even realizing, had already passed by him. My distance until he was 8 meters, but before I knew or could stop, I hit my face in a tree in the forest. It all took a little over a second.

"Ouch! Damn...who placed this tree here?" I wondered wryly, then shook my head and looked at Hiroito Li again.

"Well...that changes things..." he said to himself, then used his super speed, passing me and going into the forest. I followed, now also using a similar speed. I climbed one of the trees and jumped from one tree to another with enough agility and speed, and in a few seconds I reached him.

"It's time to stop running, comrade! The prison is in the other way, but you have a fight to finish Here and Right Now!" I said as I followed him, then jumped over the trees and when I fell I kicked the gorilla's back.

He rolled a few meters to stop. When he stood up, I saw a scorched mark on the part where my foot had hit. The moment he turned, I ran up to him, jumped over him with a backflip, and when he turned again I hit him in the chest with the palm of my hand.

The blow instantly left him gasping for air, then he was thrown far away. I ran after him again to continue the fight. While he was rolling and doing somersaults backwards, I ran, passed by him, and while still rolling I hit a kick on his back, throwing him ten meters up. I crouched to pick up more momentum to jump, and amazingly I reached the point where the gorilla was, then I gave him a knee to the stomach still in the air, and throwed him a little higher.

When I would fall to the ground, I used the momentum to jump again, and this time when Hiroito Li was falling I gave the strongest punch I could on his face, throwing him towards my friends, who had to jump to avoid being crushed by a huge gorilla. Wasting no time, when I just fell on the ground I ran towards him to continue the fight.

"What...what is that?" said Monkey.

"How can she fight like this? It's hard even to see what is happening! How is it possible, Master Shifu?" Viper asked. The others stared at their master, wanting to know the answer, but he turned serious for a moment. Everyone got worried.

When I was approaching Hiroito Li, he tried to attack me with a left punch while going to get up. To dodge, I jumped on his forearm, hold myself with my hand on his arm and then used the momentum speed to kick him in the face. The blow lifted him off the ground, then I quickly stood up a front him, and using all my speed with this new technique of mine, I made a series of punches across all his body.

I managed to hit him with incredible speed, so that the others were almost cross-eyed trying to follow my movements, but it seemed to me, in a way, slowly. I struck him across his body, 15 punches in one second. Every time my fist struck the big gorilla, a burn mark was marked where I had hit.

He leaned forward breathlessly, then I did it a whirl in the air, and with my left foot I kicked in his right ear, darting him away from me. He rose slowly moaning in pain, but with a lot of anger in his eyes. With one swift movement, he ran toward me with his super speed, I haven't had time to react, so I just closed my eyes to prepare myself for the blow.

After a few seconds without having felt anything, I opened my eyes and I had a surprise. The gorilla tried to hit me a punch in the belly, he had indeed hit, but I hadn't felt it. He tried to do the next blow with even more strength to see if I would at least push a little backwards, but still without success.

"Wow! You mean that I'm not only stronger and faster, I also have a kind of extra protection while using this technique?! This is Awesome! What do you think about it, fool?" I said in surprise, then grimaced at the gorilla.

"AH, SHUT UP!" he shouted, then kicked in my left ear. Again, I didno't move and neither felt the blow. A laugh a lot with that.

But after Hiroito Li let out a big growl, I went into defensive position. He tried to hit me several punches, alternating between right and left, which I just dodged going to the opposite side of the blow. He was gradually increasing the speed of the blows, and also began using kicks. He was as fast as me to fight, so to not risk that my protection of fire fail and I get injured, I started using my hands, wrists and forearms to block the sequence of strokes.

I could easily defend myself, but as I was in a defensive position, nor realized that I was walking backwards, and was almost falling into the lake. When there were a few inches for me to fall, I jumped over Hiroito Li and used a backflip as the impetus to give a kick to his chin as he turned. The gorilla was thrown three meters up and went into the lake, but before that happens he somersaulted in the air to stand and did something amazing, he used his super speed and started running on water.

"Wow! You mean that with this super speed it's possible to walk on water ?! This is Awesome! Now it's my turn" I said excited, couldn't wait to also walk on water. I prepared to run, but at the time I was about to run, I tripped on my foot and fell into the lake.

"HaHa! Gone bad, brat!" Hiroito Li provoked me as he ran by the big lake. I climbed out of the water and on land again.

"Really? Then binds this, little guy!" I ran towards him, and this time I could run on water successfully. Hiroito Li was coming in my direction, and to attack him, I slipped on water, supporting me with my right hand on the water and stretching my left leg forward, making the big gorilla stumble and pass above me.

He whirled in the air after hitting him, but again he made a pirouette to stand and then kept running. I don't understand why he did it the second time, after all we both were able to walk on water. After I slid, I realized that my hand and foot began to sink slowly.

"LIU! Do not stop running! Is your super speed that is making you stay on water! If you stop running soon you are going to sink!" Master Shifu shouted from afar.

With a quick motion I obeyed my master, and ran again to catch Hiroito Li. He changed the direction he was running and came towards me to attack me. By far, gave a great leap, and after giving some pirouettes in the air, prepared to give an elbow on his head. He put his hand above his head to defend himself, and when he did it, I pulled his forearm up, opening his guard, and I kicked him in the spine.

He was paralyzed with pain for a while, I ran to the land and when I just skidded on the grass I saw him sinking in the lake. My friends and my mother celebrated from afar and said how that all was amazing, but I had a strange feeling that the battle wasn't over. My eyes were fixed on the lake, where Hiroito Li had sunk. The water seemed agitated at the bottom of the lake, then I remembered something that instantly made me very worried, Po.

He was hiding underwater since that moment that he was struck by the gorilla, trying to ambush or appear when someone was in trouble. But Po's plans ended very wrong. Po's body was thrown from the lake toward me at an enormous speed, I jumped to divert and saw that he was unconscious. The body of our friend went reeling until stop next to the others.

"PO!" they shouted and ran to verify if the Dragon Warrior was fine. Po was immobile, unreactive, and Master Shifu was see if he could hear his heart. I was looking at them from afar, I felt something like if that flame around me was growing, and a great desire to kill my enemy came over me. I gritted my teeth, furious.

The movements around me seemed very slow, I was able to clearly see the blinking of the eyes of concern of my friends, and without turning around,I heard Hiroito Li get out of the lake with a big jump. The water droplets that fell evaporated in me, and when I just heard that, I turned to face the huge gorilla that would punch me in the face.

Without great difficulty I held the right hand of Hiroito Li with my left hand, stopping the punch and making the bones of his fingers snap. I wanted to end that fight once and for all.

"This time you went too far! Now you're going to pay for all your crimes and all what you did with my friends!" I said with a menacing tone. Hiroito Li stared into my eyes and almost paralyzed in fear.

I pulled him by the wrist with my right hand, causing his arm to pass in front of my belly, then gave a powerful punch on his elbow with my left hand while still holding his wrist. The blow broke his elbow, making the arm turn to the opposite side. The gorilla groaned and let out a loud cry of pain.

After that he tried to give me, incredibly, a rotational kick with the left leg. I let him hit me in the chest, after all I wouldn't feel anything, and when he just hit me I grabbed his leg against my belly and gave a strong elbow on his knee. Another member was made useless, so now the right elbow and left knee were broken. Hiroito Li fell sitting on the floor, groaning and agonizing in pain.

Although he was no longer able to fight, to me that fight was far from over. All the pain, fear and destruction that he caused wouldn't be forgiven so easily. I walked slowly up to him, grabbed him firmly by the neck and dragged slowly forward so that he was on his knees and I could face him face to face.

"Ouch...ouch... (sigh of relief from pain*)...hehehe! And now, brat?" he said sarcastically, putting his hand on the ground for support. I kicked his wrist, breaking it, then grabbed his throat with my left hand to suffocate him again shortly after him screaming in pain.

"You have no right to mock me, you monster! You destroyed villages! Hurt innocent people for fun! Tried to destroy what I loved the most! Tried to kill my mother and my friends! I Can't Forgive You for Everything You did! And I WON'T!" I said firmly, staring into his eyes, then lifting his head above mine and stretching my right arm back. To end it once, I was going to hit a powerful direct blow on his heart, but before I do that he interrupted me.

"Go ahead! Kill me! Show me who you really are and what you can do...oh No! I forgot...you're a frightened kitten...you're weak! You would never be able to kill your enemy...even if it was to save the lives of those you love" he teased me. The flame that surrounded my fist was bigger than before and my hatred too.

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, ready to strike.

"LIU, NO!" My mother shouted from afar, but it was late, I had already done what I wanted.

I stopped the blow a few inches from his chest. Hiroito Li was shaking in fear, then slowly looked down to see that he was still alive.

"HA! Gotcha...and your nose too!" I joked, after squeezing his nose. My friends and my mother were relieved that I hadn't killed the enemy, and Hiroito Li fell sideways on the floor scared and almost fainting with the pain of broken bones.

"...Wretched brat..." he said breathing deeply as if gasping for air.

"You're right, Hiroito Li! I won't kill you, because I'm not like you! I'm not a murderer, and you don't need to die, you are going to pay for what you did in the Prison" I explained. Soon afterwards he could take no more pain and ended up fainting.

But then I remembered that our problems weren't over yet. Po was still lying on the floor, unconscious. My friends had very worrying eyes, Master Shifu was trying to make a heart massage on Po to revive him, but he didn't react. Po stood motionless and without any sign of life.

"Po..." I told myself as I walked toward them, starting to get worried.

"No!...Damn it! Come on, Master! Po can't die like this!" Viper said almost crying.

"I've pressed all the pressure points of his body, but his muscles still seem tense!" said Mantis, also very worried.

"Cardiac massage...pressure points pressed...the only thing missing is...try the mouth-to-mouth, isn't it?" Monkey said.

"I do it!" my mother said quickly, already stepping in front of Monkey and ducking to do mouth-to-mouth breathing.

She stopped after seeing our expressions, it happened so spontaneously that it was almost impossible to hold back laughter.

"If you insist, Tigress..." Viper said, looking at her with 'that' look, then tried to stifle her laughter.

"I-I...Well...I mean...Ok, let me handle this" she said with much shame, trying to recompose herself.

She slowly covered his nose with her fingertips and opened his mouth, then swallowed due to nervousness and closed her eyes to do the mouth-to-mouth breathing. All we stared intently at her, afterall the situation was serious, so we forget what happened previously.

My heart sank for a moment. My sweat of nervousness was slowly evaporating due to the fire around my body. My hands were shaking because I didn't know if Po was alive or not. But then a scene that made us almost burst to laugh flashed before our eyes. For some reason, none of us simply warned my mother, but we keep trying to contain his laughter.

But it was simply impossible not to laugh at what we saw, and stifle the laughter with our hands didn't help. My mother hadn't done the mouth-to-mouth breathing and stayed seated, staring at us in astonishment and not understanding why we were laughing.

"...Hahahaha! I don't believe it...hahahaha!" Monkey couldn't take it any longer stifling his laugh and said softly.

"Hey! This is serious! I'm trying to concentrate here! It is not easy, stop laughing!" she asked with shame, not understand why we were laughing.

But she finally understood when turned to Po again, and saw him doing a kiss with his mouth. It was all a plan only to kiss her.

My mother's face changed almost instantaneously from one of surprise to one of anger. None of us could take anymore hold the laugh and started laughing loudly. It was a ridiculous and pathetic plan with a simple goal and that almost worked.

"AAAH! YOU FLABBY PANDA!" my mother shouted with him, but was interrupted.

"Oh, darn it! I almost got it! It was so close!" he sat down and wept by his plan, without even caring much about the anger of my mother.

"What?! So you admit it was all a plan?! Just to be able to ki...AH! You Pervert! Sucker! I don't believe..." she started to complain and shout with him.

"Ah, come on, Tigress! You started it!" Po said.

"WHAT?!" she exclaimed.

"Well...it was you who said it was a good idea to stay under water making sure nothing went wrong! And also you kissed me to help me breathe when I was almost drowning...so I decided to return the favor with another plan and..." he began to explain. My mother almost paralyzed with embarrassment.

"I DIDN'T KISSED YOU! AND THAT WAS NOT A PLAN, YOU GOOFBALL! You know the protocol, those who deviate from the group during a mission must hide to take care that nothing goes wrong! Stay in the water was Your idea! I just agreed it was a good idea...and you just ran out of breath by the time the gorilla appeared...and to not Jeopardize the mission I had to...di-divide a little of my breath with you but... the only way to do this..." she said, slowly turning her back to everyone, with shame.

"The only way to do this was kissing me" he said with a gallant voice.

"I DIDN'T KISSED YOU! AND SHARING MY BREATH WITH YOU IN MISSION IS NO EXCUSE FOR YOU TO TRY TO KISS ME!...AND ALSO DOES NOT MEAN THAT I LIKE YOU!" she said nervously, then punched him in the head.

"Ouch...hehehe! Hey! I did not know that! I haven't even mentioned that you like me" he laughed then still playing and making my mother turn red with embarrassment. Me and others just watched and laughed.

Everything seemed fine now. The villain was defeated and all was well. I no longer felt the need of fighting, then let out a small sigh in relief. I felt my heart beat faster for a moment, in a strange way I felt short of breath and started fast breathing through the mouth.

My strength seemed to be going away. My throat seemed to suddenly dry. My legs were wobbly, the lack of air made me lose my balance, and trying to keep the balance I walked back and almost fell into the lake. I fell to my knees and leaned into my hands by the lake while looking at my own reflection in the water.

"Liu!" my mother exclaimed when noticed that I wasn't fine, but when she tried to come toward me Master Shifu stopped her, holding her by the arm.

"No, Tigress. I'm sorry, but that's part of the technique that Liu is using...you can not do anything..." he said, leaving all concerned.

"W-what? Normal...which technique is this? What is happening to my daughter?" she asked worriedly.

"Well, I suppose you remember a legend that I used to tell when you were little, saying that the greatest warriors in the world were those who fought with honor, courage and heart, and that on the day of greatest need these warriors would be able to do anything to protect those who he/she love" he recalled.

"Yes...but all great warriors do it! So what does this have to do with Liu? Why...How she learned to do this is if we never taught her?" she still didn't understand.

"After fighting so much, getting really hurt...and after almost dying and see those who she loves stand on the brink of death...she ended up letting all her power and energy explode at once! And you know how Liu is when it comes to love stuff" he explained.

"So...this is the technique that legendary warriors ended up using to defeat armies with their own hands, to defend those who were important to them?! Awesome!" said Po.

"Yes, Po! This is the..."

"The Flaming Heart of the Hero!...And she learned to do and master this rare and powerful technique...to protect us...Liu" she said quietly, impressed.

"That's right! And after someone uses this technique..." he continued, but stopped when remembered the consequences of using such a powerful technique.

I didn't need to hear him to know what was going to happen to me, somehow I knew what it was. My heart beat strongly, looking like some of my arteries would burst. I put my hand on my chest to try to alleviate the pain, but it was no use. As I moaned in pain, I looked at my reflection in the lake, before the fire that passed through all my body now began to fade.

Once the flames have gone out, I realized that only my pupils were still different, long and thin, equal to a venomous snake. Then something amazing happened, I had the impression that everything around me was black, like a room without light, and I heard voices echoing throughout, scary voices mocking me.

"Hahahaha! You're so weak..." - "Frightened kitten" - "Without your special technique you could never win this battle" - "Run! Go away! Save yourself and let them die!" - "How could you? I thought you loved them" - "... Oh! Poor little girl...lost and confused! No family and no love!" said some of the voices that seemed to be people I knew in the Valley of Peace.

"What! Who are you? What do you want from me?" I asked, starting to get worried.

"We just want to return the favor, of course" - "All your blood, sweat and tears!" - "Pain is inevitable! It is time to pay for your doom!" the voices said.

"Favor? Blood, sweat and tears? Doom? What are you talking about?" I asked, confused and afraid.

"Love..." - "...Hate..." - "...EVERYTHING you felt..." - "You ignored like dirt!" - "Now suffer with your choice!" - "The pain you felt throughout your entire life...you will feel it again!" - "At once! Hahahahaha!" the voices answered me. It didn't seem to be good.

Scared and confused, my senses seemed to have gotten a little sharper. I heard a small drop of water fall into the lake in front of me, and I looked at it as if I knew something would appear before me. To my amazement, the water suddenly gained a reddish appearance and sounds of shrieks and groans of pain seemed to pour out of it.

Great images of events of my life began to be designed in the lake, from my first days of life until today, randomly. I had a very strange feeling, like something was grabbing me and preventing me from moving. I suddenly saw that the images stopped passing randomly and saw a scene were I was training kung fu, and took several blows. In a strange way, I felt those blows exactly on the same places, with the same force inclusive. My ribs felt like they were going to break and my stomach hurt a lot.

Then I came across a scene where I fell from a tree and hit my head on the floor. Again I felt the same pain I felt that time. For countless minutes I was going through the same torture, not been able to react. Until I came across a problem. The images that started appearing were of when the Bao Gu Orphanage had been burned, and I was trapped in the fire. Obviously the pain that I feel would be of burns, wounds and among other things that occurred to me, but the problem is that I was very close to dying that day.

I was panting, bleeding, with several scratches all over the body, barely bear to stand and was completely out of strength to get rid of the invisible thing that was holding me and didn't let me move. If I didn't find somehow to get free and find a way of getting away from that place, I would surely die.

I mustered all the strength I could and started trying to open my arms and my legs away, intending to get free of the thing that was holding me back. But regardless of the strength that I use, that thing was much stronger than me. Gradually, I felt my wounds begin to burn, all my by was hot, I could even smell the smoke from the fire, which left me breathless and dizzy. My vision blurred and I fell to my knees.

"N-No...AAAAAAHH! D-Damn It...I don't believe that...I'll Die...And It's Only My... AAAH! FIRST...Mission...no...And I didn't even...said goodbye..." I lamented to myself, but I stopped when listened to a different voice from those who were threatening me.

"Head up, Sis! Your time has not come yet, you still have much to do in your life!"

"W-what ?! Shun...Is it really you?!" I asked. At that moment, the evil voices seemed to have been surprised and hidden deeper into that darkness.

"Not only him, Liu!" said my adoptive mother, Tigress.

"All us!" said Master Shifu and the other Furious Six in union.

"Don't give up, Liu! We know you can! Remember..." Shun continued.

"...You have never been alone, and your bad memories are not the ones that make your history..." my father and my mother said together.

"...But your achievements and dreams!" continued my siblings, Shun, Lin and Huan. I couldn't contain my tears after these words.

"Thank You, everyone" I thanked them. After that, I felt like my wounds, scrapes and burns didn't exist, although it wasn't true. I felt so...calm, happy and full of energy, that I realized that I was now able to do anything.

I breathed deeply and left my members hard, then started using all the strength I could, until I finally got free of the invisible thing holding me. I fell to my knees again and looked at my reflection in the lake, my eyes were back to normal. After that, the darkness of that place suddenly changed to a very strong white light,I closed my eyes and when opened them again I saw that I was in front of the lake. I got up and looked back, to get a hug from my adoptive mother, Tigress.

"You're live, Liu! Gosh, I was so worried!" she said, weeping with happiness. Then everybody hugged me together.

"What a fright you gave us, Liu!...Again..." said Mantis, joking.

"We knew you'd get it, Liu"

"You were amazing during the fight, Liu"

"Uhuu! That's what I'm talking about, little one!"

They said. We were all very happy that it was finally over. I could still feel the pain of the torture, I hadn't even a scratch on my body, but it seemed like the pain was internal.

"Congratulations, Liu! This was only your first mission and you learned a very rare and incredibly powerful technique" Master Shifu praised me.

"Thank you, Master...but I also got very impressed with myself, and wouldn't have done it without you guys, thank you! But Master, what was that vision that I had, and why I still feel the pain?" I thanked him and then asked.

"The Flaming Heart of the Hero is a very powerful technique, but it also requires a lot of energy, both physical, mental and spiritual, Liu. The most legendary warriors who managed to use it eventually died by not bearing the pain through which you passed, you should be grateful...Well, those who survived said that it was only possible to use the technique after going through a situation of extreme difficulty and where those he or she loved were in great danger, leading them to a very high point of stress and adrenaline, in which most emotions are virtually annulled" he explained.

"That explains the voices" I told myself.

"This level of stress mixed with the chi of a warrior ends up resulting in what happened to you: the gain of a colossal strength, super speed, unrivaled stamina and a kind of natural shield done with your chi" he continued.

"Yes, hehe! One of the best combat experiences I've ever had, if not the best!" I said excitedly.

"The only thing I found strange was that your protective barrier was in the form of fire...and you can do the Thundering Wind Hammer..."

"What does this have to do?" said Po.

"The elementary form of the protective barrier should be of the same affinity that your chi. You, Liu, Peng and Tigress can do it because your chi has affinity with the wind element...but the protective barrier of Liu was made of flames" he said thoughtfully.

"Hah?!...Well, what about those voices? What were they?" I asked, not understanding very well about my protective barrier of chi stuff.

"Voices?! What voices?" he asked, seeming to have no idea what I was talking about.

"Well...I dunno how to explain...right after the fire stopped passing through my body, I kinda started to lose my strength, everything went dark...some voices that seemed familiar began to threaten me...then said I would have to suffer and feel the pain I felt throughout my entire life...then I saw my life pass in pictures on the lake, and as they went by I was feeling the same pain that was going on...then I heard the voices of you guys and my family, who helped me to free myself from that invisible thing, and now I'm here..." I told them. Everyone looked at me in amazement.

"What?! So that's what really happens after you use the Flaming Heart of the Hero?! Awesome...I mean...never was known what really happened to the warriors, nor why they died" he said.

"You mean you went through All the pain of your life again? Wow...it's amazing that you've managed to survive this" Po said.

"Oh, Liu! It must have been so difficult and agonizing something this..." my mother told me then hugged me to comfort me. I hugged her too, almost crying to remember everything.

"Yes...but well, it all worked out in the end, and that's what matters, huh?" I said, recovering myself.

"Yep! And it's time to finish the mission and take this big guy for Chorh-Gom Prison" Po said. Then I looked at the big gorilla fainted on the floor, just wondering how we would take him through all the way.

"Yes, we just need to just use the wagon they had used to rob the Valley of Peace! Is there behind those trees!" said Crane. So we put the gorilla in the wagon and took him to the prison. Along the way, my mother and Po were pulling the wagon and were still arguing about their attitudes, which mainly left a certain tigress very shy.

"C'mon, Tigress? Are you still mad at all...that?!" Po asked.

"And you still ask?! The answer is more than obvious...and...I don't wanna talk about it...now" she said, changing her tone of anger to one of shame.

"Oh, give me a break! Are you saying you didn't liked it?!" he joked, with a coquettish tone.

"NO! Of course I DIDN'T liked, you Fool! Not to talk about the shame you made me pass through, in front of the others!"

"Seriously? Ah...well, listen..." Po was interrupted.

"No! Enough talk, you've embarrassed me too much today. At the Jade Palace we'll have a very serious talk about it, Understood?!" she said, then threatened.

"AH! Hah...okay..." he answered with fear, stopping to look at her and concentrating on the dirt road. Me and others couldn't do much besides trying to contain the laughter.

 **END**


	7. Chapter 2 (part 1)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 1)**

It was an afternoon just like any other in the Jade Palace, a beautiful blue sky with few clouds, temperature pleasantly warm, a gentle breeze going around all over the mountain, and a pretty quiet environment.

Well, at least inside the palace, and in the huge staircase, but in the Training Hall, I (Liu Zhang) was training very hard. After a good stretch, I was running from one side to the other and using all my energies to complete the training circuit. I was training my endurance in combat.

"AGAIN!" Master Shifu ordered after I had completed the circuit, going and back, and for the 6th time I ran again to continue, going to the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion, or as I prefer to say: treadmills.

Running as fast as I could and using my arms to balance, I went from one end to the other of the treadmill and did a backflip to proceed to the next. And as I ran, also had to worry about those wooden things with thorns, which swayed attached to chains, passing very close to me, but I did my best not to be struck and got through them.

After almost stumbling, I went to the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom, or as most know: bowl. I jumped and tried to support myself on the edge that was more ahead, I wanted to try to finish faster than the previous circuit times, and would intentionally steady myself only at one edge of the bowl, without doing all the kung fu moves while balancing myself, then continue. But I hadn't the chance to try to cheat, because just before I touch the bowl, Crane made a flyby in front of me, causing me to fall into the bowl and stagger.

"Trying to cheat, Liu?!" he teased, balancing with only one leg on the bowl, then I got into fighting position.

"Oh, come on! Is it really necessary to do All these stuff so many times? I mean, this is not my goal!" I said, standing up and balancing on the edge, in front of him, ready to fight to pass and continue the training circuit.

"Your goal is to train and acquire greater stamina, Liu! And not to make the circuit as fast as you can" Master Shifu replied.

"He's right, Liu. The resistance is not due to the strength or speed you have, but how much you can stand to do something repeatedly without tiring" added Crane.

"Agh! Okay..." I agree, but still not understanding somehow. I returned my gaze to the fight.

Crane was bigger than me, and his long wings allow him to hit me more easily. He tried to hit me alternating right and left blows with the wing, which I blocked with the wrists and elbows, but he was attacking fast and it was very difficult to balance on the narrow edges of the bowl, so I ended falling in again.

I heard him giving a slight laugh to see me fall out, what got me mad. I needed to get through him as quickly as possible, but how to do this if he was the master of balancing, and had the advantage of being able to hit me while I couldn't do a single blow?

Then an idea crossed my mind. As we were moving in the bowl, I noticed that if I left a heavier side, this side would stay closer to the ground. So, instead of starting a body-to-body fight, I started to throw my body forward and back into the bowl until Crane almost touch the ground, and then, using the momentum, I braced my feet on the opposite side and jumped highly, going over him.

Passing by him, I headed immediately to the next obstacle, the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. 16 training dummies of wood and iron arranged in four rows with four dolls each, which I needed to go through all, knocking the three members that revolves around them. Running left to right, I should repeat the sequence of strokes in all of the first row and then do the same with the following.

When I was in the sixth wooden warrior, I stopped to think if it was really necessary to hit them all, after all I should go through them all several times during the resistance training, then why should I hit them all every time if I would end up doing it moments later?

Then, after completing the sequence of hits on the sixth wooden warrior, I jumped four and started directly with the 11th. Right after I do this something strange happened. After giving a punch to the opponent of wood and dodge the member, a member of the warrior that was behind me struck me on the head.

"Ouch...What...happened?" I looked back, nothing could have done that. I continued the sequence of blows I was doing and suddenly I was hit in the ribs. I used my hand to relieve the pain and then looked back, and again I only saw the same wooden warrior that had struck me before.

This made no sense, none of wooden warriors, which look like alligators with armor, could move by itself. The wind wasn't strong enough even to move their limbs, so it was impossible to be enough to make it hit blows like those, it meant that someone was messing with them. But who? I didn't see anyone but Master Shifu and Crane.

After looking around and face the alligator of wood, it spin it's limbs in circles and hit me in the stomach and then in the nose, making me walk back. I leaned my back into another wooden warrior, who then immediately hit me in the ear, throwing me to another enemy, which hit me a blow in the face.

That wasn't good, whatever was that, someone making the opponents of wood move or if they had their own accord, I was taking a beating, and had to act as soon as I could, before let they defeat me without letting me finish my training. I shook my head to regain my balance and concentrated to see where it would come the next blows. Soon, the opponents who were around me started attacking me simultaneously, and I found myself obliged to use all my abilities to defend myself.

Using my arms, wrists, hands, feet and legs, I defended myself from the blows. Eventually I ended up taking a few hits, they were too fast for me to defend myself, and without realizing I was walking from one side to the other, just by going through the wooden warriors that I hadn't beaten before. After some time, the warriors of wood stopped moving.

"Very well, Liu! Now that you have hit all those you had skipped, you can continue with the others remaining" it was Mantis. As it seemed, he was beating on the wooden warriors to hit me, and it all just to make me come back and do the full circuit.

"AH! C'mon! I'll go through them all again later! So what's the point?" I asked with a slight revulsion, because he had delayed and hurt me, and he could have just told me to go back and do it again.

"Your goal is to train and acquire greater stamina, Liu! And not to make the circuit as fast as you can! And if you Really want to develop a Good physical resistance, it Must be intensive, and not only repetitive" Master Shifu explained. Frankly I still not understanding that very well. Repeating that phrase made me feel like a little kid, and that wasn't cool.

"Oh no, Liu! Get down, it will hit you!" Mantis said, jumping quickly on the wooden warrior that was behind me, doing a strike on it and hitting my face with the enemie's limbs, again.

"Ouch! W-why did you do that?" I asked nervously.

"I told you to get down! Hahahaha" he joked, making me even more nervous.

"Grrrr! Darn, this time I'll..."

"Concentrate, Liu! You haven't finished training yet!" Master Shifu interrupted me.

"But...*sigh*...okay" I replied.

I obeyed my master and continued training, this time doing the sequence of blows on all the enemies of wood, then going to the Field of Fiery Death, or simply: minefield. I had to be very careful to move quickly and with precision, because in the tubes of the ground of this part of the training had sensors that were easily triggered, which make large flames get off from ground, and I knew from own experience that is isn't very nice to get burned there.

Soon after stepping on the tubes, the training would start, but about 3 seconds after you step on them, those flames off the ground with great pressure. Knowing this, I wanted to pass well through and get out of there, but halfway I was stopped.

"Hi, Liu! You wouldn't mind sparring with me, right?" it was Viper, now it was her who was on my way.

"Ah! Seriously, even here?" I inquired. Then I heard the roar of the flames that were about to leave the pipes where I was stepping and I jumped to escape. When I just left, the flames rose, already giving me a chill down your spine for fear of getting burned. But I haven't had much time of peace, I tried to run out of the minefield, but was detained by Viper.

"Trying to escape, Liu? I thought you were going to fight me...are you scared?" she teased me.

I had no choice, I had to defeat her if I wanted to continue. Before start fighting, I heard the noise of fire rising from the ground through the pipes again, I found myself obliged again to move to escape the flames, before starting the fight with my opponent.

It was a complicated situation. I couldn't stay still for long, or I was going to burn myself, but at the same time I needed to dodge the attacks from my opponent, and find a way to attack her. Viper's strikes were mostly well-aimed, she aimed mostly on my legs and on my face, what made me lose my balance. The fact that I couldn't even hit a blow on her was agonizing, I had to move myself constantly to not end up turning into a toasted black panther.

It was unfair, Viper trained in the same part of the Training Hall since coming to the Jade Palace, she knew how to make her movements with precision and she never got burned. All her training left her extremely agile, and being thin as a noodle makes her be able to pass more easily through the flames.

After some time, the fatigue began to disturb me. I had to do so many somersaults and cartwheels in a row, not to mention that Viper hit me several blows, and the flames passing very close to me were affecting my psychological, even my sweat seemed to be hot.

"Come on, Liu! Stop running away and face me!" she teased me again.

"I'm trying! Do you think it's easy to fight on this thing? Furthermore, it's against You I'm fighting..." I replied, steadying my base and getting into fighting position.

"You haven't realized yet, I suppose?" she asked me with a strange smile on her face.

"Realized...Ah! I don't believe it..." I exclaimed when realized what she was talking about. Appearing to fight was a way of intensifying the resistance training.

"Hahaha! Come on, Liu! If you don't pass, soon you will not endure comply with the 100 laps on the circuit that you have promised!" she laughed and then reminded me, trying to hit me in sequence.

"Well, you guys told me I'd have to train my stamina if I wanted to enter the tournament. You do this at least once a week, and if you can I also have to be able to do it!" I grumbled.

"That's not how things work, Liu. You only get good at something training a lot! And there's no way to compare your workout with the other Six, yet. It will take years to..."

"No, no, no! Stop! It's always the same conversation, I can't stand thinking about taking years training the same thing! I'm not even...AAAAAAAH!" I would vent my exhaustion and dissatisfaction with myself, but before I finished, one of the flames rose up behind me and burned my tail.

With my tail on fire and in pain, I ran into a run from one side to the other while trying to extinguish the fire with my hands, making Viper laughed loudly. I was angry with it at first, but then I saw my opportunity to get out of that tremendous heat. I ran as fast as I could to the end of the Training Hall, passing with ease by Viper, who was still laughing. So I finished the training circuit.

"Hihihihi! Ah, Liu. Never keep still while in the Field of Fiery Dea..." she told me, but then also got burned, getting from the head to the tip of the tail toasted.

"RA! Do you see what happens when you keep mocking someone...OuchOuchOuch! *sigh of relief*" I said, then putting my tail in my mouth to extinguish the fire. So I fell back on the floor.

"AGAIN!" yelled Master Shifu.

"What?! You gotta be kidding me!" I grumbled.

"Come on, Liu! Otherwise I will not fulfill my part of the agreement" he said in response.

I was wondering if all what I was doing was worth. By the time I made the deal with Master Shifu everything seemed so much easier and exciting. Well, now it wasn't time for me to whine, I had to complete a workout.

"*sigh*...Well, it can't be that bad...only more...93 times..." to whom I was trying to fool? It would be a long day after all.

Fail and not fulfill my promise was definitely not an option. I took my tail off the mouth and spit out some toasted fur, then slowly regained my breath and prepared to continue the circuit training.

On lap 17, I started to feel my legs and arms get sore, my movements were getting hard, it was almost impossible to stretch my limbs completely. On the lap 28, I started to get a little dizzy, I did every obstacle without understanding what I was doing, I just did them automatically. In the 35th round, I started to decrease my pace, but still not skipping a single step of the training circuit. In the 40th lap I got scared, my vision was blurred; my sweating was cold and I was very breathless, when I tried to run to try to increase my pace again I closed my eyes briefly, and when I opened my vision was very blurred, I couldn't even see my friends in the Training Hall.

"Liu, are you okay?" Master Shifu asked with concern.

Surely if I said I wasn't fine, he would tell me to stop training, but I hadn't completed the 100 laps on the circuit yet. I'd said I would do the 100 laps, and if I didn't fulfill my word I wouldn't be able to live with myself, and Master Shifu wouldn't comply with his part of the agreement. Breathless to answer him, I just shaked my head to say that I was fine. I lied, but I just couldn't stop now.

I shook my head to regain my consciousness and continued the circuit. It was a disaster, I was exhausted, I fell into the bowl several times to the inside and outside and also the warriors of wood were hitting me more than I was hitting them. But the real problem was when I reached the minefield where every time a flame rose from the ground, I felt like the heat was making me faint.

In the 48th lap, my vision started to get blurry again. It was hard to stand, but I had to keep running while doing the circuit training. It no longer mattered to me more if I was doing each lap faster than the last time, all that mattered now was getting to the other side and go straight to the next lap. Once the flames in the minefield extinguished, I tried to run up in the middle to go faster, a big mistake that cost me dearly.

Something long and green came towards me, I couldn't see straight, but I concluded that it was the Viper, which gave me a blow in the face to prevent me from moving forward. I was careless, as Crane and Mantis, she appeared in only a few moments during the training, to intensify it, but as I clearly had skipped one part of the circuit, she came directly in an aggressive way to stop me. But I had so little strength remain, that the blow she gave me made me tumble and roll forward, I couldn't keep standing after the attack.

I fell out of the minefield, and to try to regain my consciousness I tried to support myself on the first thing that was closer to me. Another mistake, because I began to walk backwards and leaned on a wooden warrior, the one who was in the middle of them. I knew at that moment that Mantis would attack me too, and I was right.

I looked left and saw a blurry image of something small and green coming towards me. Mantis gave me a powerful kick in the stomach that made me bend forward in pain, then started hitting the wooden warriors to hit me several simultaneous strikes. With all my pains and unbearable dizziness, every blow seemed to cause short faintings, which I quickly woke up and tried to lift my arms to try to defend myself, but I had no strength to lift them.

"Stop, Mantis! Liu can not hold on anymore, it's time to stop before she..." Master Shifu said exactly what I feared, he wanted to stop the training and stop me. I couldn't believe that he thought I was already done, so early, I hadn't even done half of the training yet.

I just had to run from one side to the other, it seemed so easy, but still, I failed. I had to forget all that pain and sickness, and find a quick way to show Master Shifu that I was still able to continue.

"N-n-n-...no! I...I haven't finished y-yet...look at me...I'm fine...j-just a little...winded...I won't...stop now!" I said breathless and in pain, running from the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors to the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom, starting to limp with my left leg.

"Liu, stop! You have reached your limit, if you continue, the consequences can be very serious! It makes no sense to continue like this" he tried again to tell me to stop, but what he said eventually left me with even more desire to continue.

"M-my...li-li-...limit?!...No! I still haven't...finished...I will fulfil with... what I s-said!" I replied, jumping to the edge of the bowl and starting to make the movements of tai chi. But I couldn't do them, it was almost impossible to move my arms and legs, let alone making moves that required a tremendous balance and synchrony. I just tried to swing my arms in any way similar to tai chi and would go to the next obstacle.

The last obstacles were the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion. But in my state, I wasn't able to make all the moves and divert the masses of wood with thorns, and unconsciously I started going through the middle of the treadmills, only to reach the other side. But again I was skipping a step of the training circuit, and that meant that someone would come to stop me from moving forward.

It gave me a shiver down my spine for a moment, causing me to quickly look around to see from where my next opponent would come, and saw a mass of wood with thorns coming towards me, with the thorns pointing at my face. I gathered all the strength I had left and punched the left side of that thing, throwing it away and saving myself.

"Feel the Thunder, Cheater!" it was Po, he took a big leap from afar, coming towards me to give me a bellyful.

"PO, NO!" shouted Master Shifu, Viper, Mantis and Crane, trying to stop Po. But it was too late.

A flabby panda with his 130 Kg at a high speed isn't something easy to stop, and besides, we were talking about our flabby panda, who wasn't exactly a good listener. Po didn't even try to stop, he just hit me a powerful bellyful, throwing me with all his strength away, to the metal bowl.

I hit my head hard on it, sitting on the floor after I fell. Gradually I began to lose my senses and fainted.

When I woke up, I had no idea of how long I was unconscious. I felt someone put a small wet towel on my forehead. I strained my eyes to get open, then saw I the ceiling, realizing that I was in my bedroom. I felt that I had a stiff neck, then I looked only with the corner of my eyes to see who else was in the bedroom.

"*sigh of relief*...Thank goodness, Liu" it was my mother, Tigress. She put her hand on top of mine, to comfort me.

"...Hi, mom!...For...how long I was unconscious?" I asked, still a little dizzy.

"It's already night. When you fainted it was almost lunchtime...you haven't make a single move for more than eight hours. But that's not important right now, just rest, you had a hard day today and got really hurt" she replied. When she talked about food my stomach growled, I was very hungry.

"Phew! What a relief that you're already awake, Liu. I feared the worst, I thought you would end up passed out for some days, but as always, you proves to be stronger than we think" Master Shifu said, entering the room.

"Oh!...Hi, Grandpa...thank you..." I said. Seeing him reminded me of our agreement, and I was disappointed for not having fulfilled my part of the agreement, already reminding me of his part of the agreement.

"What is the matter, Liu? Something's wrong?" my mother asked me, calmly.

"I...I wasn't able to do that!...I said I'd do 100 laps on the training circuit, but couldn't stand it. I haven't done even half of it and had fainted..." I replied, very sad with myself.

"Oh, Liu. You don't need to be so sad about it. You're being too hard on yourself. And after all, it was just a training and...and...and I owe you an apology! I was careless and too hard on you...the training was very hard and intense, even for one of the other Furious Six...I should have stopped you before...it happens..." Master Shifu apologized.

"It's okay, Master. But...how should I not be sad? I failed...you said that I could only participate in that martial arts event of that famous samurai, if I could complete 100 laps on the circuit...and I couldn't do it" I replied, even more sad now.

"Oh! Haha...Liu, I told you that you would only be ble To Compete against the legendary samurai Tamatso Utin, if you at least Improve your endurance in combat! Doing one hundred laps per day in the Training Hall circuit was an Exaggerated estimate I gave you at that moment to tell you How you maybe could improve your stamina until the day of the event" he said.

"What?!" I asked blankly.

"Hah?! What event is this?" my mother asked, wondering what our Master had agreed with me without her permission.

"Oh, Liu and I made a deal, Tigress. She said she would love to accept the challenge of Tamatso Utin, which will happen on next week, and I said that if she could prove to me that would be physically and psychologically ready by then, I would pay the fee so she could participate" he explained.

"The famous Tamatso Utin?! Wow, What kind of event?" she asked.

"It is a tournament of sword fighting, mom! This samurai opened this event for the whole China! Any challenger who thinks is able to defeat him in a battle of swords can participate" I completed, with courage.

"Yes. And as I was saying, rest well tonight, Liu! Tomorrow you will have a day off to recover...and if I were you, I would put a bit of ice on the back of your left shoulder. It was a hard stroke..." he said.

Shortly thereafter, I tried to catch with my left hand the baggie with ice, which actually was a big bag with almost the size of my back, which had a pretty chilled water with small pieces of ice inside.

"Oh...okay!...If you say I need more...I won't disagree...hehe" I said, already thinking about how I would be able to sleep with that thing on my back freezing me.

"And tomorrow, when we finish our breakfast, we will go to the Valley to pay your inscription to the event" he continued. His answer made me extremely excited.

"Seriously?! YAAAY! Thank...Ouch!...Thank You Very Much, Master!...But wait...I haven't improved my stamina, so..." I tried to get up to celebrate, but the torticollis stopped me.

"Of course yes! You proved it to us today. Every day you improve all your skills, including your stamina. I have no doubt that you'll be more than ready to join that event!" he replied, leaving me a little embarrassed by the praise.

"Thank you, Master!" I thanked him, then he left the room.

"Liu, I'm proud of you! This is what I call been Hardcore" she said, smiling.

"Thank you, Miss. Harcore" I joked, making us laugh.

"But don't forget to ask me permission for this kind of thing next time! Of course I would agree with it anyway, but you are not old enough to make these kind of agreements with others without asking my permission first"

"But it was a deal with grandpa!" I said.

"You got my point!...Let me put some more ice in this..." she'd pick up the bag to fill with ice to put it on my back, but Po'd just entered our room.

"HUH! Oh my God! LIU! You've already woke up..." he exclaimed, excited, but his exaltation cost me a powerful hug.

"AAAH! PO, your dolt! I'm with torticollis and pains all over the body!" I yelled. He stopped squeezing me so hard, but just freed me after seeing the cold gaze of my mother.

"Oops...hehe! Sorry, Liu. But it's that I...I...*sigh*...I'm sorry for what happened today! I...I was late, and when I knew what I had to do to join your workout...I think I overdid it..." he apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Po. It was just an accident" I said.

"Yes...and since you're here, why don't you do something good to redeem yourself, huh?! Can you fill this bag with ice, please?" my mother said, still a bit serious.

"Ah...yes...I'll be right back" Po said with a slightly odd tone, as if he was sad or worried, then he grabbed the bag and left the room.

"Why is he...Oh! How could I forget? You said you wanted to have a private conversation with Po. What you wanted to talk to him?" I asked, careful not to show too much excitement, to not prevent her from answering me.

"Liu, I...I don't wanna talk about it. Today was a long and tiring day, and I also need a rest" she replied, now with a tone of disappointment.

"Oh, Mom. Please, tell me! Don't worry, I'm your daughter, you can tell me everything. I promise to keep a secret" I insisted. She was thoughtful for a moment.

"...*sigh*...Liu...I wanted to talk to him because...because I think he was really starting to believe that kiss thing was serious. I told you guys the truth, he would drown and I couldn't let him leave the water, sharing my breath with him was the only way! It was just a mission, I haven't done that because I like him...and well, Po has told me of some indirect ways that he...appreciates me...I remember very well the day he used the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang in himself and the wicked and perverted part of him was doing pickup lines...the time Yijiro came to the Jade Palace and Po was dying of jealousy..." she told me quietly, but something seemed to bother her more than that.

"But...if you just wanted to tell it to him, then why are you like this, mom?" I continued.

"...I...I don't know...maybe becau..." she went on, but she listened to the steps of Po coming closer and stopped talking.

"Here is the bag with ice" he said quietly when entered the room, seeming to avoid looking at my mother in the eye.

"...Thank you, Po...Good night" she thanked him, then put the ice bag behind my shoulder.

"...good night...Good night, Liu!" he said, then turned and walked slowly to his room, in front of our. My mother extinguished the fire in lamp and then gave me a goodnight kiss on my forehead.

"Good night, sweetie. Sleep well"

"Good night, mom. Ah...sorry, I know you just lay down on your comfortable bed...but I have a little problem, hehe!" I said softly.

"What's the matter?" She turned to look at me.

"I can't lay down on my bed...can you help me?" I replied, not knowing whether to laugh or not.

She helped me to lie down and pinching the ice bag on my shoulder, then she lay down again and fell asleep quickly. It was a pleasantly warm night, but I couldn't sleep very well, that ice bag was freezing all my back, but mostly one thing bothered me: why my mother was feeling so bad? It had been a long time since I hadn't seen that. And not just her, Po also was feeling lousy. What had actually happened to them? And worse, why that particular night had so many little noises of cracks of wood?

But even so, it was a pretty nice night. I could rest well and recover from my training injuries, but what do I didn't expect was to wake up the way I woke up.

"GOOD MORNING, Sweetheart! Did you sleep well? Had good dreams? Seriously? Me too! Wow, it what a good night's sleep!" my mother woke me in a happy mood that was more than unusual for her.

"Ah...good morning, mom!..." right after I finish the sentence the bell rang and it was time to introduce ourselves to Master Shifu, but what happened next was even stranger.

"Goooood Mooorning, Masteeer" Po, my mother and others have said, instead of saying seriously as we always do. But the strangest thing was after saying good morning.

"Hey! You guys have woken up too? I don't believe it! COOL! GROUP HUG!" they said animated and in sync, then all rushed at each other and gave a big hug. Master Shifu and I stared at it without having the slightest idea of what was going on.

"What...what's wrong with them?" I asked softly to myself.


	8. Chapter 2 (part 2)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 2)**

We went to the kitchen to have breakfast. Master Shifu and I sat beside each other, as if somehow we understood each other at that time, it was very strange. That morning just wasn't normal, let alone our friends. They were being just so politely, it looked like a competition to see who was more gentle.

"I'll prepare the breakfast!" said Mantis with excitement. The strange thing was that he very rarely prepares a meal.

"Don't worry about it, little friend. Let me handle this" said Monkey, who had never prepared a meal for us, due his lack of skill.

"Please, let me straighten out the chair for you to sit" said Crane gently to Viper.

"Ow, thank you, my friend. But please, sit down! You never sit down to eat" she thanked him, then offered her place for him to sit.

"I'm sorry, but I have to refuse. After all...I don't know how to sit" he said then.

"Please, I insist. I can help you to sit" she said gently.

"Ow, thank you, Viper. Well, as you insist..." he thanked.

Crane then went backwards to the chair, but he couldn't bend his legs to sit, and kept losing his balance while trying to. Viper then pushed his chair away from the table and helped him to sit down, holding him as he leaned. The funny thing was that Crane managed to sit up, but had to stay with straight legs for it, and he was far from the table.

My mother had sat beside me, and Po was on her side. When I and Master Shifu changed our look at them, we couldn't do much but stay without reaction.

"Hihihi!...This is sooo Good! A little way up..." she said, twitching and bristling with the caress that Po was doing on the back of her neck. She swung her tail in joy.

"Like this?" He asked.

"Yes!...Wow, this is Amazing, see how good it is" she said, then began stroking Po's nape, making him squirm with chills.

"Oh...this is delicious! This...is...awesoooome..." he said, resting his head on the table. Master Shifu couldn't take it anymore to see all the what was happening around us.

"Liu, if this is some kind of joke that you guys decided to do...Please, stop now! I've seen enough. I'm already getting worried about them" he said, almost in shock.

"I'm sorry, Master...but I was going to say the same thing to you" I said, also paralyzed.

After a few more minutes seeing all those strange things, breakfast was ready. Monkey had prepared chocolate cookies, that looked like black rocks with a disk format. I glanced quickly at the stove, it was quite dirty, with various ingredients scattered on it. The only thing worse than having to clean all that dirt was the smell of the cookies. We took the cookies at the same time, but I didn't eat and neither Master Shifu, just by grabbing that cookie that was hard like stone, we could know that the taste was even worse than the appearance.

"Uh! These are wonderful, Monkey!" Po said, chewing slowly and with difficulty to swallow, but somehow he actually seemed to be enjoying the taste of it. Actually, all the others seemed to be enjoying it too.

"Incredibly crunchy! Toasting the chocolate was just a Great idea...*swallows the cookie with difficulty*" said Viper. So then we all looked at Crane, who was struggling to stretch his neck to reach a cookie, and as soon as he got and swallowed one, he drown because he couldn't swallow the hard toasted disc which they were calling cookie.

"...Cough! Cough!...Simply...Tasteful, Monkey! Can you give me one more?" he said after recovering his breath. He also seemed to like the cookie, and didn't seemed to be faking.

"Thank you, guys! I can't believe that you really liked the..." Monkey would thank kindly, but was interrupted.

"Okay, Enough! Stop with this joke right now! Prank is one thing, but you crossed the line. Now, stop pretending that..." he exclaimed, unable to bear longer all that madness. But something even stranger than the 'misbehavior' of our friends happened, and made Master Shifu stop ranting with them.

"*cry* You're angry with us, Master?..." Po said, trying to hold back tears.

"B-but...what have we done wrong?" said my mother, also almost crying out, what was scary somehow. She never cries.

"Oh no! Sorry, M-Master...I already know why you are mad! *cry* I knew I had put too much salt on the chocolate cookies...Damn! Stupid Monkey" Monkey continued, also crying.

Master Shifu and I couldn't understand what was happening. That was just an earful, but it was enough to make them all cry like babies. What was happening? Something was wrong.

"Ah...well...Liu, come with me!" Master Shifu was going to say something else, but quickly changed his mind and called me, just leaving the kitchen.

"Phew! Finally. I also wasn't putting up with getting there. Any idea of what is going on, Master?" I asked, worried about my friends and my mom.

"...This similar situation has happened before, Liu. But no matter how much I try to remember, I can not...darn it! When did it happen?..." he said, then asked himself.

"Are you telling me that this really isn't normal?!" I asked even more worried.

"... Well, it surely is not normal, Liu. But I think I must be exaggerating. Probably it's a joke and they are working very well on it. Don't worry. Come on! We will pay your inscription to the event" he changed the subject.

"YEAH!" I jumped in joy, almost forgetting what was going on with them.

Master Shifu and I went down the stairs of the palace and arrived in the Valley of Peace. It was a busy day, trade was in full swing, but most people weren't on the streets to buy things, but heading for the exit of the Valley. Many wanted to participate of the event, and those who wouldn't, would be watching everything in the audience. After a few miles of walking, we arrived at the city of Jinzhou. The famous town where was the Jinzhou Palace, where Su Wu, one of the Wu Sisters terrible, was trapped.

Walking through the narrow streets of the gray city and full of trades, we soon arrived at a place that looked like an arena. A large concrete building that was open at the top, the interior was flat and at the surroundings of the circular walls was an audience. Master Shifu and I passed through a long queue, until we get to a counter to inscribe my names at the event.

"Hey! Why they don't need to wait in queue like everyone else?" said one big and fat pig holding a sword that was in the queue.

"Quiet, fool! That's the queue only for great masters. Only those with great skills and excellent kung fu can..." a guy tried to explain, but was interrupted.

"Great masters? Ra! A little girl and this softly?! Don't make me laugh" said the pig. That made me very angry.

"Liu, don't. He's just a poor guy who doesn't know what is saying, it is not worth" Master Shifu told me, after all I was staring at the pig with a deadly look after what he said, and he thought I would do something.

I stopped looking at that idiot and looked around, and I found him. In a small tent, talking to a small reindeer girl who seemed to be an apprentice, there was a gigantically large creature, Tamatso Utin.

A moose, his skin had a dark brown color, he was wearing a dark blue kimono arrested by a wide cloth tied around the waist. Apparently thin, but he had a large trunk and shoulders. He...he was very tall. He had the same height as Temutai, but his antlers had almost the size of his chest, then he should probably be higher. Being a samurai, his personality was easily visible, he was disciplined and had a serious look, and his life was based on honor.

I wasn't exactly tall, but even Master Shifu stared at the famous samurai. It was a mixture of size, power, incredible skills and honor in only one moose. I returned my gaze to the little reindeer, which looked like a small and cute version of her Sensei, but without the antlers. She seemed to have almost my height, and had beautiful brown eyes that seemed to glow of so much beauty, visible even from afar.

"Very well, Hina Hiroki, now tell me: what is the Samurai Code of Honor?" Tamatso Utin asked with a friendly voice. She then pulled the breath to speak.

"I have no parents, I make the heaven and earth my parents.  
I have no house, I make the world my house.  
I have no divine power, I make honesty my divine power.  
I have no pretensions, I make my discipline my pretensions.  
I have no magical powers, I make personality my magic powers.  
I have no life or death, I make them in one, I have life and death.  
I have no vision, I make the thunder's light my vision.  
I have no listening, I make the sensitivity my ears.  
I have no language, I make the readiness my language.  
I have no laws, I make the self-defense my law.  
I have no strategy, I make the right to kill and the right to save lives my strategy.  
I have no projects, I make the attachment to the opportunities my projects.  
I have no principles, I make the adaptation to all circumstances my principle.  
I have no tactics, I make the scarcity and abundance my tactics.  
I have no talents, I make my imagination my talent.  
I have no friends, I make my mind my only friend.  
I have no enemies, I make the oversight my enemy.  
I have no armor, I make the benevolence my armor.  
I have no sword, I make the perseverance my sword.  
I have no castle, I make character my castle." she said.

"Very good! Congratulations, you've not only learned a lot in such a short time but is also almost dominating a different language. You sure will become a great samurai one day" Tamatso Utin praised.

"Seriously, Sensei?! Ooh, thank you!" she said quick and happily, then hugged her Sensei's leg.

"Wow...that was so beautiful. It's amazing and admirable the way these samurais are serious about their honor" I said after watch them.

"Yes. I fully agree. This brought back memories of when a very important samurai visited the Jade Palace" he said.

"A samurai at the Jade Palace?! Really?" I inquired.

"Yes, he came at my request, his name was Yijiro, and he..." Master Shifu was interrupted.

"And he must have been another half-wit, as well as these two, who think are able to defeat anyone in China!" it was that same pig that had me angry before.

"Shhh! Shut up! Are you tryin to take a beating and don't attend the event?" said the same man as before, trying to get him to stop saying those things.

"Ah! You shut up! We are already for a long time in this queue and haven't even started the fights! Who do they think they are to make us wait like that? They claim they are good enough to beat everyone in China and are now are lacking with respect to those who want to participate in Their challenge?!" he complained.

"*sigh*...Liu, unfortunately I have to agree that something is not working well...and the queues seem not to walk at a good time, I think I'll see if I can solve it, meanwhile you wait here. Don't get in trouble" Master Shifu told me.

"Trouble, Me? Aff, of course not, Master. Don't worry" I said and then bowed, before him go. But as soon as he pulled away, that pig began to grumble again, and it would be hard for me to control myself.

"Oh, now I got it! They are looking for their honor! They must have lost it during a journey! Hahaha" he said.

"Someone make this guy be quiet, please" said someone from the queue.

"Why don't you come get me to stay quiet, you fool?!" said the pig, roughly. An old sheep lady, who was taking care of the registrations of the event, came to talk to him.

"My boy, please, they have already asked you to be quiet, be quiet. You are..." she was going to ask, but was interrupted by the pig.

"Shut up you too, useless trash! We're late, c'mon, I want to face that samurai and take off that smile from his face and show him that honor is just..." he continued with the rudeness, until he picked up his sword and pointed at her, threatening. When he did, it was my duty to do something.

He was pointing with the tip of the sword towards her neck, to defend her without hurting her, I held his wrist with my left hand and gently pushed the sheep away from the reach of the blade. Then I punched him in the face, still holding his wrist, then turned his arm until he get his back to me, I kicked his calf to make him kneel and then pushed his arm until it touch his back, making him lay belly down, immobilized.

"Haven't you listened, big guy? The lady told you to be Quiet! You're annoying us all and talking too much nonsenses" I said, angrily, holding him tightly, to don't let him escape.

"Grrr, let me go, cheeky girl! Who do you think you are to do this to me and say it about me?" he said, even more angry, trying to get free. I turned his arm even harder, making him cry out in pain and stop trying to get free.

"My name is Liu 'The Jade' Zhang, I'm a kung fu master from the Jade Palace, the sixth member of the current Furious Six, the heroes of China. Adoptive daughter of master Tigress. I'm exactly someone who has the right to do this to you and tell you this! Moreover, anyone could, because everyone here has honor, more than you had in your entire life! That is, if you ever had" I said with a serious tone. The others who were close by were surprised to finally know who I was.

"Oh, come on! You are telling me that by practicing a mediocre martial art at a fancy place and for being the daughter of someone famous, you see yourself in the right to humiliate me and say that understands more about honor than me, a lowly thief?! Don't make me laugh!" he said, without giving a damn about who I was.

"I'll say it for the Last Time: Shut UP!" I threatened, gritting my teeth in anger.

"Ha! I'm too scared, kitten. What will you do? Call your older brother ?! Hahaha...Or rather, your mom, or maybe your both mothers?! Hahahahaha!" he further provoked, but this time he had gone far beyond the limits. No one speaks ill of my family, not even if it's a joke.

I narrowed my eyes with hatred, my blood boiled and I began to sweat. Everyone was quiet at that moment, by seeing me lift a hand to hit that bastard. But something stopped me, for a moment I stopped to think about everything I had just to talk about honor. Would all what I said be worth if I destroyed my own honor, beating someone like him? Immediately after, I felt as if a hand was holding my fist, as if someone wanted to tell me not to do that. It must have been the Shun, my older brother, who always took me from trouble. I couldn't.

"No...it doesn't worth. You're just a poor guy who doesn't know what is saying. maybe no one taught you what does it mean to have honor, or why having honor. I hope one day you learn it, and I'm sure you'll also learn something else in prison, respect! A big step to learn about the honor" I said and let him free.

I did what was right, but I made a big mistake: free him. As soon as I let him go, he muttered something, grabbed my wrist and spit in my eyes. A dirty trick! It was disgusting, and even worse, I couldn't see anything. I could only hear him take his sword. I tried to clear my eyes quickly, but when I did he had already raised the sword and was ready to cut my throat.

I wouldn't have time to defend myself. But then the unexpected. A katana stopped the pig's sword, it was Hina Hiroki, the apprentice of Tamatso Utin. She stopped his sword with an incredible ease, and saved my life.

"What? Another dwarf?! Do not interfere!" said the pig. But then he looked back, startled by feeling the presence of something big behind him.

It was Tamatso Utin, standing very close to him, what was really scary. He seemed to be even higher when you look closely. The pig tried desperately to strike the samurai with a horizontal cut, but the huge moose stopped the sword with one hand and then struck his neck with the other, making him faint. All were amazed at the feat of foreigners, especially me.

"Are you okay, little one?" asked Tamatso Utin.

"...Yes, thanks to you. Thank you!" I thanked, bowing to them, then they also bowed.

"Are you really from the Jade Palace?" the reindeer asked, curiously.

"Hehe...Yep!" I replied, with a little shame.

"It is an honor to know that such important people decided to join our event" said Tamatso Utin.

"Yes, I can't wait! I just need to wait till Master Shifu..."

"I'm right here, Liu" he said behind me.

"W-where did you came from?" I asked, after a chill down your spine and almost jump by been scared.

"I just got back. I was helping with the final preparations for the event start. Apparently you've met Tamatso Utin and his apprentice..." he said, then stopped by not knowing her name.

"Hina Hiroki. It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Master Shifu" she introduced herself and then bowed.

"Master Shifu...so it was at your request that my disciple, Yijiro, traveled to the Jade Palace? He told me a lot about you and the legendary Furious Five" the samurai said.

"You...you are the master of the great samurai Yijiro?!" Master Shifu asked, impressed. In fact it was impressive to meet the master of a great master who helped other masters, but what samurai said made me uncomfortable.

"Ahh, sorry, but it's the Furious Six" I said.

"Liu..." Master Shifu stared at me, and rightly so. Then I realized that I had been a little rude.

"Ops...hehe, sorry" I apologized.

"Yes, Yijiro is my best disciple. And I'm sorry, but you said 'Tamatso' Utin? My name is Tamotso Utin" continued the samurai.

"Tamotso?! W-well, my sincere apologies...but...I think I'm not the first to wrong your name, neither the last" said Master Shifu.

"How so?" he asked.

"Well, in all the posters around the cities your name is written as 'Tamatso Utin'...and as I recall, all the people who talk about your amazing feats pronounce your name as Tamatso Utin" he said.

"What!? Impossible! I can not believe it! Grrrrr, I bet it was that boar that..." he exclaimed.

I was more than sure that those two would keep talking for a long time, so I turned my attention to the little reindeer. I slowly approached her. She seemed to be cool, I wanted to know more about her, and throughout the conversation of Master Shifu and Tamotso Utin, we both ended up getting bored.

"Hey, your name is Hina, right?" I tried to start a conversation.

"Hina Hiroki. Liu Zhang, am I right?" she said. She didn't want to be rude, but I found it odd how she answered. She didn't look at me to talk and continued standing still, looking ahead, but a little smile on her face indicated that she wanted to continue talking.

"Yep! But you can call me Liu, if you want"

"Your name is Liu Zhang, so why should I call you by another name?" she asked. In a strange way she really seemed not to understand why I had called her Hina and said she could call me Liu.

"Well, my name is Liu, my last name is Zhang, I think there is no need to say my full name over and over again, as we speak" I explained.

"So...you do not like when someone say the name of your family while talking?...That is strange. Is it something disrespectful here in China?" she asked.

"No! Of course not...it's just...ah, forget it! Call me the way you prefer" I replied, no longer knowing how to explain my point.

I was going to continue our conversation, but the conversation of Master Shifu and Tamotso Utin caught my attention. Master Shifu looked so serious as he spoke, I wonder if something wrong had happened while he was helping to organize the event? The worry in the samurai's face seemed to confirm this.

"How old are you?" Hina asked me, wanting to continue the conversation.

"I'm...why don't you try to guess?"

"...15?" she replied.

"Almost! I'm 14 years old" I replied, with a friendly tone.

"...Darn it..." she was crestfallen for a moment.

"Hun? What's the matter?" I asked blankly.

"I wrong..." she said, still with a sad tone.

"But...what's the problem in err something? You just met me"

"You do not understand, do you?...It is a matter of honor that I become a samurai" she explained.

"And...to become a samurai you need to know everything?" I asked, still not understanding the reason for her sadness.

"No...I believe that you were watching me and heard what I was saying, but if you do not remember, 'I have no enemies, I make the oversight my enemy'. I was careless and took a wrong guess about your age" she answered. That surprised me.

"But...but there's no way of simply knowing someone's age if you don't know who it is" I tried to convince her that that was folly.

"No! When a mission is given to a samurai, this mission has to be fulfilled" she continued.

"But...but...*sigh* You know what, forget it. And what about You, how old are you? 9, 10..." I tried to stop that subject.

"Wow...you are older than me and managed to wrong my age...I am 8! How can you risk of wrong something so quickly? And worse, knowing you can go wrong" she replied, with an impressive tone of surprise.

"You know...you could be more educated and have just answered your age. But that's okay...you..." I was going to say that I understood the fact that she doesn't understand very well what I was saying. She probably had a complicated history that I didn't know, but I had an idea of how it could be. She was wearing a silver necklace, one of those you put portraits of people you love, and Tamotso Utin wasn't her father. I heard a little of our masters' talking and found that she had no parents. Probably she lived with him because of this loss, and the desire to become a onna bugeisha (a woman samurai warrior) was, probably, also due to something related to that loss. Before I continue, she interrupted me.

"More educated? How dare you to say this to me?! You speak ill of my character and insults my honor..." she ranted.

"Hey, hey! Calm down! I wasn't insulting your honor and neither speaking ill about your character. You're judging things too fast and precipitating yourself. I think you're not understanding right what I'm trying to..." I tried to calm her down, but then the unexpected, she drew her katana and pointed at me.

"Not another word about me! You call yourself a warrior, but does not seem to be one" she said.

"WHAT?!" I asked.

"Speaking that way...thinking that knows things...thinking that you know me...thinking that has the right to judge..."

"You're going too far. Put it down, I don't wanna fight" I said, now with a serious tone.

"Did not you come here to fight? I bet it was Just for this! And anyway, everyone here will have to face me, before fighting with my sensei" she continued threatening.

I had no choice but fighting to make her stop. I went into defensive position, moving my right leg back, lifting my left hand just above the waist and hiding my right hand behind my back. She was armed with one of the sharpest swords of the world, the katana, and she wasn't like that pig that was bothering the other participants, she had great fighting skills with that weapon. I needed to end it quickly and with the least amount of moves. An long struggle would be too risky, I just needed to take that sword out of her hands. But how exactly I would do that?


	9. Chapter 2 (part 3)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 3)**

I had to think about it fast, before she attacked me, then I remembered: one of the many lessons I learned from Master Shifu, was a self-defense technique against weapons when you are unarmed, which in this case I should use what I learned about defense against blades. I should avoid attacking it and never hold the blade, to avoid cutting me. Walk backwards as she tried to hit me, always look at her eyes during the combat, not at the sword, and disarm her only if I were sure I would.

She went on the attack, attacking me from a long distance with diagonal cuts, aiming on my chest, and horizontal cuts, aiming on my belly. She wasn't attacking very fast, but the movements were dangerous and accurate, she was really trying to kill me. When she saw that she was missing the cuts, she tried to close the distance of the combat. She grunted with anger and raised her sword above her head to make a vertical cut, but before she had successfully done it, I raised my wrists and quickly crossed them over my head, causing her arms to stop before hitting me.

I threw her arms up, opening her guard, so I took the opportunity to hit some blows and stun her. A strong right hook in her chin, a left punch on her belly, making her bow, then gave a small jump, whirled in the air and hit a spinning kick on her muzzle, making her spin twice before stumbling and fall back on the floor.

"Enough, Hina! I said I Don't Wanna Fight! If we really have to fight, then let's do it in a week from now, when the fights of the event start. This stupid fight won't lead us to anything!" I said with a serious tone.

However, I had spoken it too early. I said that because I thought I had won the fight, and that my blow had been enough to disarm and disable her from fighting, after all she was just a 8 years-old girl. But to my surprise, she got up quickly soon after I finished talking and ran toward me, she hasn't even dropped the sword with my blow. She approached me and would hit a horizontal cut at my navel, and as I wouldn't simply stop the blade, I needed to get away quickly. I did a backflip, supporting my hands on the floor and throwing my legs up and back, but she hit me. I felt she had cut my shirt, leaving a small gap on my back, but to my luck she didn't cut my body.

I stood up quickly and saw that she was going to try to hit my stomach again, but without time to do another backflip, I just leaned and pulled my belly backwards. Then there was a problem, she was skilled, and with a quick movement after the last, she turned and made a cut up while I was still with my head down. I tried to get out of the way of the blade, but she managed to hit the left side of my face. She stopped and I pulled away.

I took a few steps back and stared at her in anger, then put my hand on the painful area. There was a large and deep cut on my cheek, it was bleeding and burning a lot. Luckily she didn't hit my eye, nor something worse. I looked at her again, she was panting, standing in a position to fight, looking at me, then smiled slightly and giggled.

"Enough?!...I do not think so! My honor will not return to what it was before, so easily" she said in a firm tone, but still smiling.

That exhausted all my patience. I tried to be friendly and don't fight, but now it was personal. I hadn't noticed that we were right in the middle of a large place with a dirt floor and surrounded by wooden fences. It was the area where the participants would fight with Tamotso Utin. Those who were in line to sign their names in the event, soon surrounded the place and encouraged us to start fighting.

"I tried to be nice with you, Hina Hiroki...but you gave me no choice but to fight! And now it's for real" I warned, then entered in the same fighting position of my adoptive mother, Master Tigress. Hina firmed her feet on the ground and also prepared for the fight.

Now my strategy for the fight was different. I wanted to take her to the ground, using quick moves and striking her with as much strength as I could. Then I'd disarm her in another way: using 'blind spots'. No matter how skilled Hina was, she was still a child, and couldn't follow very fast movements as well as someone older. We all have a limit of angle to our sight, that's why we can't see what is behind us, it would be useful.

Hina went on the attack and began to try to hit me again, with diagonal cuts, from top to down and from bottom to up. After I'd counted ten missed cuts, as soon as she lifted the sword I ran up to her, grabbing her sword with my left hand and striking her face with my right hand. I wanted to make her drop the sword, so I approached the fight much as I could, increasing my chances of hitting more blows and making her miss lethal cuts, so I'd stun her enough to make her drop her katana.

I began striking her several times in the belly and ribs, with strength. Then threw her hand, which was holding the sword, away, and took a last right punch in her left eye. She took a few steps back, but I approached again, getting almost half a meter from her. She was a little dizzy because of the last punch, and tried to hit me with a lateral cut, aiming on my left shoulder. She was too close to aim rightly and make a lethal cut, and the distance between us made her panic and just try to hit me as fast as she could.

I dodged the cut bending down myself, making the blade pass above my head, then I hit a powerful left punch in her bared ribs. She growled in anger and tried to hit me another horizontal cut. The blow was slow and it gave me enough confidence to defend myself, using the palm of my hands to hold the blade before it hit me. I stopped the sword with success, so I threw it away in the same direction as before, and as she still held it with both hands, she was again with one side of the body unprotected. Then I kicked with the sole of my right foot on her right knee, and then kicked her left knee with the tip of my left foot, making her cry out in pain and kneel.

She, in pain, let the left hand of the sword and placed on her knee to relieve pain. This left completely exposed her belly and face, so I approached, threw my right leg back and gave a very strong knee in Hina's chin, lifting her off the ground, almost making her stand up again, so I used Tigress's most powerful blow, putting my wrists together and stretching hands in opposite directions, then hitting with as much strength as I could in her chest, throwing her against one of the wooden fences that surrounded the place where we were. She fell to the ground floor, apparently unconscious. Those who were around celebrated and applauded.

I took that moment to ease my muscles, which were very tense, and breathe calmly, but then I noticed something worrying. While fighting, my blood was warm, and by be fighting for my life, I wasn't even noticing my pain, but when I stopped, I realized that I wasn't fine. The fight didn't take much long, but I was sweating a lot and almost completely out of breath. I had to breath deeply some times to stop supporting myself with my hands in the knees and then stand up. Why was I so tired?

Still a little breathless, I felt a slight itching on my arms and on my belly, and when I looked what was it, I was shocked. I was feeling itches because I had small cuts and scrapes on my arms and belly, several of them. I couldn't understand, Hina didn't hit me even a single blow after she cut my face, so what were those injuries? Though they weren't bleeding, I was still worried about knowing how it had happened.

I heard someone who was around me say that Hina was fine and that she was going to get up. I looked quickly, startled, and saw her try to stand with one hand and falling on her back again. She amazingly still hadn't released the sword, and wanted to keep fighting. After a few attempts, she finally managed to get up, without any hint of sweat or at least sign of fatigue. She recovered almost instantly when standing. Everyone applauded her.

"Not over yet!" she said, staring at me with a deadly glare and getting into a position to fight. Before I even get into my fighting stance, she ran towards me with an incredible speed.

She came to me very quickly, then tried to hit me a cut in the chest, which I swerved bending over backwards. Then I saw. The sword passed more than six inches from my belly, yet another tear appeared on my shirt. I had no idea how she could do something like that, but one thing was certain: I didn't have more time to stun her to then disarm her, I needed to take that sword from her now!

This time, I tried to get away from her as she tried to hit me many quick cuts, aiming at different parts of my body. After seeing that she could hit me without even touch me, I began to avoid the blows desperately. Every cut she missed I could hear the wind being cut, and when the blade was approaching the floor, a little dust was lifted and made a mark on the floor.

I just needed to see that she was slowing down, and then counterattack. After many dodges, I ended up hitting my back on one of the high wooden poles. Some of the participants were right behind me. I looked back quickly and then to Hina again, she was little more than six feet from me, she then left the sword behind her, as if using a huge strength to make a cut. That wasn't be good.

"Back Away!" I warned those who were around, then crouched to take momentum and jump. The participants runned away.

Just before the tip of the sword pass at me, I jumped up from the wooden pole, supporting me on one foot. Hina's blow had cut the wind, it was like I could see it. The air jet cut the pole where I was and other two in half. I fell on the ground, supporting myself on both legs and my right hand. I stared at my opponent briefly, when she fell she overbalanced and dropped one of her hands of the katana. She was sweating and began to feel short of breath due to so much repetitive effort to try to hit me. That was the right moment to strike.

I wasn't much different from her, I was sweating, gasping for air, my muscles were tense and my head was throbbing. I wasn't hurt that much, but gradually those injuries were undermining my body, leaving me exhausted in such a short time. But that could be my last chance of winning that fight for my life, so I had no choice but attacking.

I ran to her as fast as I could, then I gave a powerful right punch in the middle of her belly. It was so strong that she almost leaned on my shoulder, she was almost out of breath. Now I could attack her in her blind spots with ease. She pulled back a little, still bowing her belly in pain, then I approached.

I let my right hand in front of my left shoulder, and advanced to strike her in the face with the back of my hand. She immediately tried to turn to the opposite side, but I wanted her to do that. With the fingers of my hand stretched, I passed them close to her eyes, making her look at my hand as she walked away, without her even notice. It made her stop looking at my eyes, making me able to strike any blow that I wanted to, without her defend.

So, I gave a strong kick with my left leg, hitting the right arm of Hina, which was holding the sword. She moaned in pain, then I used the same technique several times, keeping her gaze away from my eyes and then hitting a blow. Alternating my target between belly, ribs, arms and face, gradually she was losing consciousness. When I saw that she could barely stand, I decided it was time to disarm her.

Despite all the blows that Hina took, she still held her sword firmly, determined not to drop it. I had the fear that when I tried to make her drop the katana, Hina would fight back. How could I take off her sword? I took a deep breath to regain my breath, then cleaned all the sweat that was running down my forehead and falling over my eyes.

Acting quickly, before she regained consciousness, I grabbed her wrist with my left hand and punched her neck, making her cough and spit saliva. It was a dangerous blow that could even kill her, but she had threatened me with death and could do so at any time, I couldn't take the risk. Then, I was going to immobilize her in the same way I had done with that pig.

However, I was caught by surprise. When I forced her arm against her back, she fought back, giving me a strong elbow in my nose. I released her when I put my hand to relieve the pain and walked two steps back, and before I could recover, she gave a cut on my left thigh with the tip of the sword.

The pain was terrible, she had made a cut that seemed to be deep. The bleeding of that cut that ran from side to side of my thigh spread and covered much of my trousers, going from black to red. I couldn't stand up, I fell flat on my back. Then I felt a need to put my hand on the wound to ease the pain, but it was hurting so much that I wouldn't dare do that. It was agonizing.

Hina walked slowly away from me, still coughing and gasping for air, until she stared at me with a deadly glare. She growled and took a great leap, she would do the same blow that before with her sword. I gathered my strength and managed to do a backflip in the air to dodge the blow, which left a big risk on the ground, going from side to side of the contest area and cutting other two poles in half. Soon after the fall, when I touched my hurt leg on the ground, I felt as if it had broken. I tried to get up, but fell again.

Hina was standing, staring at me, still having trouble breathing. She put her hand on the neck to relieve the pain and then took three steps back slowly. I looked in her eyes and realized that she wanted to run back and use one of the poles as ramp to jump higher, and rerun the same attack.

I couldn't stand up straight, was exhausted, sweating, my throat was dry and the whole body was aching, especially the cut on my leg. I didn't know if it would be ideal only to dodge her attack again, because fall and rise again consumed me a lot of energy now. I had to think of something to end this.

I didn't know if I could do it accurately, but my only chance to win was now the Thundering Wind Hammer, a very powerful technique that Po taught me, which I have to spin at high speed at the spot, until it forms a sphere of energy in my hand. Without much thought, I gathered all my energies and strength and stood up, then tore a long strip at the bottom of my shirt to tie it in my injured leg.

I felt a little more firmly on my leg with that, so I steadied my feet on the ground and took a deep breath three times, then turned my torso and arms to the side to give impetus to spin. With a very high speed, I began to rotate on the spot, making the air pass around me, then concentrated it in the palm of my right hand. Hina ran into the pole and used it to jump high, then prepared to make the cut with all the strength that she could. Now it was all or nothing, the one who hit the blow first, or had the best technique, was going to win the battle.

"IT'S OVER!" we both screamed, before we launch our attacks.

But before we had success, we were prevented from using our techniques. With an impressive speed, Master Shifu came in front of me and hit my hand that was holding the energy sphere, throwing it up. Meanwhile, the great samurai Tamotso Utin came in front of Hina and stopped her attack with his katana.

Incredibly, even after stopping the blow, a powerful air jet hit the ground, leaving a huge risk marked in the land on my right side. The risk crossed almost half of the battle field, and had more of a deep span. Shortly after, we heard the sound of the burst of a thunder, the Thundering Wind Hammer exploded in the air. Tamotso Utin grabbed Hina on his arms to protect her from the shock wave caused by the explosion, which had a diameter of almost ten meters, which raised dust of the ground and made almost everyone who was watching the fight, fall on the ground. The samurai slid in the dust, and when he stopped, put Hina down carefully and looked worried at the participants to see if everybody was well.

Although had been dangerous, I looked at the explosion of energy with satisfaction until it vanish in the air, for sure if I had hit Hina, I'd have won the fight. ThenI fell sitting on the floor due to the pain in my leg that had a deep cut.

"F-finally...it's over" I said to myself, trying to catch my breath. After a while I looked at Master Shifu, he stood staring at me, he looked very angry with me for some reason.

"Liu...I'm very disappointed in you!" he said with a stern tone.

"D-disappointed? But why, Master?!" I inquired.

"How could you do this? Hina is only a child, but yet you got carried away by your anger, and ended up using one of the Impossible Movements of Kung Fu only to win the fight!" he exclaimed.

"But...but Master, what do you suggest that I'd done? I was at disadvantaged, she had a katana! A Katana!" I replied, not understanding why he wanted to teach me a lesson.

"And your life was in great danger, Liu. I'm relieved that nothing worse has happened to you, but still, you should not have accepted Hina's provocation" he continued.

"Master, you don't get it. I was trying to be friendly with Hina, but she seemed to don't understand anything of what I wanted to say, so she took it personally, thinking I was insulting her honor and then began to threaten me death!" I tried to explain.

"And you were in despair because of a girl of half of your age?! I don't blame you for what you did, Liu, and I'm glad you fought bravely to the end, but an Indispensable thing during a battle is common sense!" he replied.

"Common sense? How so?! I was aware at all times during the battle, about how I should fight!" I raised the tone of my voice this time, I couldn't understand what he wanted to teach me with that conversation.

"Of course! You were so aware, that I'm sure that not even crossed your mind that you should have called someone to help you, or at least the decency to ask a fairer fight" that answer almost made me rampage with my master, but I controlled myself.

"What?! Are you serious?! She was trying to kill me! Why the heck would she listen to me? She hasn't heard me when I said I didn't want to fight and that I wasn't insulting her honor" I replied indignantly.

"Hina, although young, is very determined and is almost a full bugeisha onna. She was blinded by the need to regain her honor, but I'm sure she'd give you a weapon to defend yourself if you had asked" he continued quietly.

"I'm sorry, Master, but an assassin never warned me when it was going to kill me, and a thief never told me it was picking up my stuff...except those crocodiles bandits, who are losers, but they don't count...so why now it'd be different?" I continued, not understanding him.

"Because this is an Event of Martial Arts, not a battlefield! Hina is not your enemy, she is your opponent. The conditions of a fight here must be fair!" he said, sternly.

"...*sigh*...okay, Master. Got it all, but who exactly should I call for help? None of the participants have a single knife, let alone a sword" I calmed down and lowered the tone of my voice.

"Tamotso Utin and I watched almost the entire fight, one of us would have given you a sword...but you did not ask" he said, unable to hide a sarcastic smile.

"You were...then why didn't you...ah! Forget it, let's go..." I gave up to continue the conversation.

I got scared when I was going to get up, Hina was walking toward me. I didn't trust her and the battle left me with a bad feeling about her, so I tried to quickly get up to get into a position to fight if she tried to attack me, but almost fell again when I leaned with my injured leg.

"Back Off" I warned.

"I have not come to fight, Liu-san" she said. She was crestfallen, without a minimum tone of anger or threat in her voice. Probably she had also taken an earful of her sensei. I left my fighting position when I saw Tamotso Utin behind her.

"Yes, I would like to ask you to forgive me for the bad impression that we left to you today. This has never happened before. And please, beyond my sincere apologies, accept as a way to redeem myself at least that little Liu-san can rejoin the event, but in a fair fight, of course. I will disregard the defeat and let her fight again" he said, then bowed.

That confused me, I didn't know how to react to the words of the great samurai. I had lost the fight? But how? It was impossible that he really believed that Hina would have won the battle. That was the last straw for me.

"Defeat? How so?! There's no way I've lost this fight. I shot a legendary technique at her, one of the Impossible Movements of Kung Fu, she'd never have dodged it, and surely if it had hit her she would have at least passed out! C'mon, you saw the explosion" I said indignantly.

"Liu, please have a little more respect. Of course, you did something extraordinary, but you are forgetting one thing: Hina also attacked you with a powerful technique. If Tamotso Utin hadn't stopped her sword, it would be our end! You saw the size of the mark on the ground and how deep it is" Master Shifu tried to convince me.

"Yes, little one. This technique is very powerful, if executed perfectly, it can even cut a diamond in half. So surely that also would have cut the energy sphere"continued the samurai.

"Okay, two things. First: With all due respect mister Tamotso Utin, but how can you call someone 'little'? This is unfair, look at you, is there someone taller than you? And second: if this technique cut the Thundering Wind Hammer in half, I can only think of two possibilities. One in which shortly after being cut, the energy sphere would explode and hit both of us, and one where the sphere would be cut in half, continue going forward and a half would hit the head of Hina and the other would hit her belly, exploding by hit her, after all, the sphere of energy is thrown at a very high speed" I said. There was a short moment of silence then.

"Well...maybe, but I assure you that it is not the case of this fight, Liu. I'm sorry" said Master Shifu.

I couldn't stand anymore all what was happening today. I tried to help people against a single villain and had to be helped, I tried to be friendly and I received a death threat in response, I tried my best to don't die during the fight and didn't get a minimum credit for my effort, and moreover made a legendary technique that few can do and they tell me that I lost the fight, although it was interrupted and no one could say for sure who would win. With this uncertainty, it'd be much fairer at least if they said it'd be a draw.

When I thought about all this I got really mad. I closed my fists in anger, all what I wanted now was to go home and take care of my injuries. But before I made any movement, the samurai continued.

"Well, the event will be open only until the end of the month, so you have a week to come back and participate. If you want, of course. You can come in any of these days. Forgive me for my haste, but I have to make the event continues, the other participants are waiting. But before we go, I believe Hina-chan has something to say" he looked at her then. Hina stepped ahead.

"Liu-san, I...I am sorry. I think I was very exalted and ended up getting you wrong. You said you did not want to fight but I insisted...please, forgive me" she said quietly. The apology was sincere, but I was too angry at that time to just accept.

"Oh, so now you suddenly became cute and friendly, and asks me excuses...how can I ensure that you're not just saying this in front of your sensei and that you won't try to kill me later" I replied.

"Liu!" Master Shifu caught my attention, but he wouldn't stop me from saying what I needed to say.

"You threatened me with death. It was a very serious threat. You tried to kill me! I didn't ask anyone's help or to stop the fight just because you were talking about your honor, and I'd never stop a fight for something so serious. That could have cost my life!...I haven't spoken about your honor even once, yet you chose to try to kill me, and worse, in an unfair fight! You had a sword, while I needed to defend myself with my own hands, and I'd never try to kill you" I exclaimed.

"But...but...you fought so bravely...you were so skilled that you did not even need the sword...in my mind, there was no way I could lose, I had to win, it was for my honor...so it did not even crossed my mind to give you a sword...but I would have if you asked" she gently replied, still apologizing. I looked into the reindeer's eyes, she was all hurt and with huge bruises because of my blows.

"...*sigh*...Look, I know you want to apologize and that you feel bad for what you've done, but understand: I'm angry. When I'm angry I do many bad things and bad decisions...I believe in your word now, but I can't accept your apology, not today. I'll come back in a week, I' going to train a lot and think about what happened today. When I come back, if I see that you've changed and don't get me wrong at all I say, then I'll accept your apology. I hope you understand me" I continued.

Hina looked at me with a sad face for a moment, but then gave a little smile and nodded that she understood. Tamotso Utin seemed satisfied with that.

"We will be waiting for you, Liu-san" Hina said with a friendly tone, then bowed in respect. I also bowed and then to the great samurai, then went limping toward the exit without waiting my master. Master Shifu took leave in a hurry.

"Liu, wait! Are you..."

"I'm fine, Master! I just wanna go home" I answered quickly, without looking back.

We were crossing the crowded paths of Jinzhou. I was still limping, with pain in my leg. The cut on my thigh tingled inside. With so many cuts that Hina hit me all over the body, I felt a strange and agonizing pain, that even the wind of people passing near me caused me chills, and walk in that place with a torn shirt was totally uncomfortable. I felt I was being watched by everyone, but I didn't blame them, anyone on my condition would be noticed. But I didn't dared to complain of pain in front of all of them and neither in front of my master, who surely would make me stop walking if I did. I walked quietly and without showing a single sign of discomfort.

Master Shifu continued walking in silence, he didn't say a word during the entire trip, until we reached the bamboo forest. He quickened his pace and stopped in front of me.

"Very well, Liu! Enough, is something wrong? You look stressed since we said our goodbyes to Tamotso Utin and Hina, and left the event" he asked quietly.

"...No, grandpa...it's all right" I replied.

"Liu...answer me, please. You don't seem to be fine, tell me what's the matter" he continued, with a tone of concern. I answered with a sad and slow tone.

"...Well, Shifu...I'm Not fine! Today was...frustrating. I was unable to take care of a simple villain, was misunderstood by a girl with half my age and she tried to kill me, she won the fight, I'm all bruised and with cuts all over the body because of that unfair fight, I'm limping for more than an hour because of this deep cut on my thigh, I walked an entire city with my clothes torn and with people staring at me, not to mention the old pervert who tried to approach quietly and made me have to knock him out before he touched a particular part that if he had touched I'd have to do more than only knock him out..." he interrupted.

"What old pervert?!"

"...But this all isn't that important, the worst of all is that my Master...my grandpa, didn't even care about it all" I said.

"What are you talking about, Liu? I care about you!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Do you? When I finished the fight and couldn't even stand up anymore, you didn't even cared that I was hurt, the first thing you said was that you were disappointed! You didn't care that I was in danger and almost died. I'm still ashamed of myself for losing a fight like that...but I think it was even more shameful you say all those things in front of all those people...it wasn't necessary...at least not the way you did" I replied. He was speechless.

"...Liu...I...I didn't notice..."

"...No...you didn't" I kept walking, but then went back to limp, then put my hand quickly in the cut on my thigh to relieve pain. Shifu followed me.

"You look so much like Tigress...even not been her birth daughter"

"What?" I asked.

"She was almost you age, it was quite a tough day, she had trained and fought hard until she almost couldn't stop standing...but she refused to show she was feeling pain...why?" he remembered then asked me.

"...I dunno...show pain in front of others makes me feel weak...useless" I replied sadly.

"Just what she replied" he said in a friendly tone. My throat went dry for a moment, I stopped walking and wiped a tear that ran down my cheek.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa. I...I didn't..." I felt him hold my hand, then I bent down to hug him.

"No, Liu. I'm the one who must apologize. Tigress was the only child who I took care before you, and although you are very similar, you have your own features. Between us, you also know that she always was more of the hardcore kind...it was hard to say how she was feeling, actually...even nowadays I get confused...but you, Liu, you have strong feelings...all of them!I will know you better and about your feelings, I promise" he said.

"Thank you, Grandpa!" I gave him one last hug, then we kept walking.

"Well, but tell me, Liu: we need to take care of your injuries when we get in the Valley of Peace, but I believe you're hungry by now and was wondering if..."

"Lunch at the Mr. Ping's restaurant? I think my pain can wait until then!" I answered quickly. We both laughed and continued walking.

Arriving at the entrance of the Valley, a strange feeling came over me. I had the impression that something had happened in the Valley of Peace while me and Master Shifu had gone out, but why? My mother and the others were here all day, they'd take care of everything while we weren't here. But I remembered how they were acting strangely earlier, and feared that something bad had happened.

When Master Shifu and I passed the first house of the Valley, we could hear murmurs of the citizens, they seemed angry about something.

"I still can't believe what I saw!" - "How could they do this" - "I always thought they were heroes, not villains!" - "Finally! Hey people, Master Shifu, he came back". The citizens of the Valley soon surrounded us and started making complaints, but we couldn't understand all talking at once.

"Please, Calm Down! One at a time! What happened?" Master Shifu calmed them all. Mr. Ping came toward us and answered with indignation.

"Master Shifu, we were attacked...by the Furious Six and the Dragon Warrior!" me and Shifu goggled our eyes in amazement, while the citizens were getting even more nervous.


	10. Chapter 2 (part 4)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 4)**

"What ?! But...but that's impossible..." he told himself.

"It Is possible! So that they destroyed a lot of stuff of the trade area, stole many things made of metal and left!...And even my own son destroyed my restaurant and scared my customers" continued Mr. Ping.

"I...I still can not believe it...well, we will take care of it, don't worry" Master Shifu calmed everyone and told them to withdraw. Then we followed path with Mr. Ping, helped him to clean the mess in the restaurant, putting everything in its proper place, and asked two large bowls of the Soup of the Secret Ingredient for lunch.

After eating the delicious soup, I felt much better and calm, almost all my pain had stopped, except the cut on my thigh. We had a little chat with Mr. Ping on all that had happened, and before we left I realized he was crestfallen and seemed very concerned.

Master Shifu still couldn't understand that situation, and wanted to go as soon as possible to the Jade Palace to meet with the other Furious Six and the Dragon Warrior, but I still wanted to know more about how it all happened.

"Master Shifu, before I go to the Jade Palace, can I go talk to Tuggsy? It's been a few days that I don't talk to him, and maybe he can explain better how it all happened. The other villagers only say that they came and destroyed stuff, and not How it happened"

"All right, Liu. You can go talk to your boyfriend, then go back to the Jade Palace" he said with a smile on his face, addressing to the stairs.

"Hey! Shifu, for the thousandth time: Tuggsy isn't my...Ah, forget it" I tried to explain, but he didn't turn to listen.

I walked to the trade area to search for the wooden stall where Tuggsy, a snow leopard of 16 years old, worked with his foster family. After going through several tents destroyed, with vendors taking their products on the floor, I found Tuggsy's stall. It was broken, several shelves were fallen on the floor and with several of his own produce, such as vases and wooden boxes scattered on the floor.

"I can't believe it! Look at all this mess...how Could they do that?!...*sigh* I just hope Liu isn't one of them now..." he said as he cleaned the mess. He had his back to me and haven't heard me approaching.

"One of them? What're you talking about, Tuggsy?" I asked.

"Oh...it's you! Well, I think...Oh My Goodness! Liu, what happened to you? Are you okay?" he exclaimed, suddenly changing his tone as he turned and saw how I was.

"...Wow, what a change of mood, huh! This? Well, let's say that today isn't my day, but this isn't important right now" I said.

"Not important? Are you nuts? Your whole body is cut and this cut on your leg seems to be deep. You should have taken care of it before coming here!" he said with concern.

"Thank you, Tuggsy. You get so cute when you are concerned, but seriously, I have a much more important thing to do now"

"It's about the Five, right?" he continued.

"Yes. Master Shifu and I are trying to solve this, but first I must know what really happened"

"What really happened...how so?"

"Well, Po and the others were acting very strange this morning, but it isn't a strange type that would lead them to destroy the Valley and steal things" I said.

"So...what kind of strange?" he asked.

"Most of them are always serious, they make jokes or do funny stuff now and then...but this morning they were too cheerful. But, Really cheerful! They began to act as if they were children, they were hugging, exchanging affection, it looked like a contest to see who was more gentle!"

"Well...I would like that those who attacked us were like this" he joked, but still with a serious look.

"You said just now that you hoped I wasn't one of them. What did you mean?" I asked.

"When they attacked us...they could look like Po and the others, but it just couldn't be them. I'm almost sure they wasn't them. The way they talked, the way they were acting...and that look in their eyes like burning flames..." he explained, remembering of the attack.

"Well, Tuggsy. Now I can tell you we have a problem. A big problem"

"Bigger than it's now...I mean, What?! Are you telling me they really weren't them?...I mean, Our them...no, uh..."

"Actually yes...part of them" I replied, leaving him even more confusing.

"Part of them?" he asked.

"The bad part of them. Let me explain better: Once, Master Shifu told me that Po had disobeyed him and looked at his reflection in a mirror called The Mystic Mirror of Yin and Yang. This mirror separates the one who looks at it in two halves, the 'good' one, with only their good feelings and qualities, and the 'bad' one, which has all wickedness and other bad things within you. The bad half of Po nearly destroyed the Five and Master Shifu, and the two halves almost got separated forever...now that you told me this, I can see clearly. Last night, before they get weird, I heard some noises in the Jade Palace, and in the morning they were different, they were too good, too happy, without the slightest desire to do the least harm to anything. The other Furious Six and Po that are in the Jade Palace are the 'good halves', and the 'bad halves' were the ones that attacked the Valley!" I said.

"wow...well, that explains a lot, but if the halves are only separated, why do they speak in different shades of voice? And why the heck they stole just our metal? Even being 'bad', it doesn't fit as something they would do as bad guys! I mean, they are kung fu masters, and steal metal..." he continued, opening a new issue.

"That's the only thing I can't understand" I admitted.

After a few moments of silence thinking about the answers to these problems,Tuggsy and I couldn't reach a conclusion. Before going to the Jade Palace, I wanted to help my old friend to clean up all that mess, but as soon as I tried to bend over to pick up a clay jar, the cut on my leg started to itch hardly and I felt a lot of pain. I let out a little moan of pain, fell sitting on the floor and put my hand on the cut to relieve pain.

"Liu, it's very kind of you to want to help me, but for now I'm going to refuse. First I'll take you to the Valley's hospital and we will take care of your injuries" he said in a friendly tone.

"No, Tuggsy. Seriously, I'm fine! It only hurts a little bit, I...it isn't big deal..." I tried to convince him that I didn't need help, but in vain.

"Not big deal...just hurts a little bit...Liu, you never knew how to lie" he said, letting out a small giggle.

"I'm serious! I'll be fine..." I tried to convince him again.

"You'll be fine After I take you to the hospital!" he said, reaching out to help me up.

"But..."

"That wasn't a question, Miss Jade! Let Me help you this time" he said smiling, then he put my arm around his neck to help me walk. I couldn't do much, but to smile in gratitude for the generous act of my friend.

"Thanks, Tuggsy" I thanked.

He took me to the small hospital of the Valley, there, they began to take care of my wounds. After some herbs and remedies, I began to feel my strength back, and I could move myself much better. Instead of the strip of my shirt wrapped around my leg, they wrapped a white cloth with a medicinal leaf underneath. When I lifted myself again, I could take several steps alone without limping. I thanked everyone who took care of me and then Tuggsy accompanied me to the palace staircase, which was closer there than his stall.

"Liu, you must return to the Jade Palace now, Master Shifu must already be wondering why you haven't returned" he said in a friendly tone.

"Are you sure? Now that I'm better, I can help you arrange things in your stall" I asked.

"Thank you, but you are dealing with something much more important now. You better go, you may find something before the 'bad' Furious Six appear again" he said calmly.

"Okay...Thank you, Tuggsy!" I thanked, giving my old friend a friendly hug. I turned and started up the stairs.

"Do you want me to help you get up there?" he joked.

"No, thanks. I have to make sure that this leg will recover, so I can come back to train. In a week I'll go back to that event and fight again" I explained as I climbed the stairs.

"What?! You mean you can come back that way again?!" he shouted from afar.

"Yep! And that's why I'm going to train very hard!" I replied, smiling. I looked at him behind the shoulder as I went up and saw that Tuggsy haven't liked what I answered. He mumbled something but I was too far away to hear.

When I arrived at the Jade Palace, my legs were shaking because of the strength I used to get up there, but I recovered while I headed to the Hall of Heroes. The big doors were open, and there was nobody there. Until suddenly Zeng, the Jade Palace's best servant, appeared from behind a pillar. He was cleaning the floor with a mop while imitating the sound of a drum, shaking his butt in the rhythm of the music.

He seemed very focused and I didn't want to scare him this time. Usually, I play to scare him, but as I just wanted to look for Master Shifu and tell him what I'd found out, I passed silently through the Hall of Heroes to confirm that Master Shifu really wasn't there. After seeing that he really wasn't there, I went outside the Hall of Heroes, but looked frightened back before leaving.

The noise of Zeng falling to the ground and knocking the bucket of water along with the mop scared me. Then I saw that he had slipped into a soap, and the bucket was in his head, leaving him soaked. I didn't know if I should laugh.

"But my! Not again...Oh! Hello Master Jade" he greeted me and bowed by seeing that I was there.

"Wow...I didn't even had to scare you this...I mean, Hello, Zeng!..." I said, then also bowed. I had a strange feeling, even if it had already a good time that I'd lived in the Jade Palace and had become the newest member of the current Furious Six, I still found it strange when someone called me Master.

"You must be looking for Master Shifu, I suppose" he continued.

"Yes, I'm. Do you know where is he?"

"Nope" he replied quickly, then got up, packed up the mess and continued to clean the floor while doing the drum sound with his mouth.

I didn't know if I should say something or whether to hit that goose, so I preferred to look for Master Shifu alone. As soon as I left the Hall of Heroes, I heard him fall again.

After some time, the only other places to look were the kitchen and in our rooms. To my surprise, I found everyone in the kitchen, they were having tea! They were talking with very soft voices, politely seated and with strangely cheerful smiles. Only Master Shifu was standing on top of a chair to prepare more hot water and put into a teapot. I opened my eyes in amazement. This was a scene that I would never have thought that could happen. No one noticed that I arrived.

"Ah...guys..." I was going to greet them, but Master Shifu came toward me like lightning and covered my mouth, then looked back to see if anyone had seen us and gestured with his head to say I should leave the kitchen to talk.

"*heavy sigh* Thanks Heavens you came back, Liu. I think I'd end up freaking out if I were alone with them for even one more minute" he said relieved, placing his hand on his head as if in pain.

"What's the matter?" I asked, worried.

"You're right, they are the 'good' part...they looked into the Mystic Mirror of the Yin and Yang!" he said, almost whispering, telling me indirectly that I should too.

"Yes, and...wait, I hadn't told you about this yet!" I said, now also quietly.

"This is what you were going to say now, right?"

"...Yes"

"Exactly! I'm just advancing the conversation. I bet that is the conclusion that you and your boyfriend..."

"Tuggsy isn't my boyfriend!" I exclaimed.

"Shhhh! Be quiet...they can hear us!" I was amazed at his concern.

"...well, but it seems you found something more, right?" I said.

"Yes...and it makes our situation even worse! I had locked the Jade Palace before we go to the event because I suspected, somehow, that it could have happened again. The mirror was used, I confirmed this while I was with...them..." he stopped explaining to look at our friends, who stopped having tea and began to massage each other's backs.

"Was the mirror taken away?" I asked quietly, to make him keep explaining.

"Yep. It was safe in the dungeons, but I couldn't find it anywhere...but now our biggest problem is that...why are you looking at me like that?" he stopped explaining by seeing my look of amazement.

"We have dungeons at the Jade Palace? Since when?"

"...It does not matter, Liu. Now I need your help, our main concern now is to find their 'bad' sides before sunset. Otherwise, the two sides will be separated forever!" he finished the explanation. I froze with fear when I heard that. We only had three hours until sunset and we didn't even know where to start looking.

"Forever...you mean that if we don't find them, my mother and the others will stay like that for the rest of their lives?!" I exclaimed, turning to look at my friends in the kitchen, who were still embracing.

"...Yes! We must not let that happen. If the attack to the Valley was recently, they may not be that far off. Find them and make sure they stay in only one place, then we will use the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang to join the two halves" he ordered. The only problem was that the plan seemed meaningless and many failures.

"B-but Master, the attack on the Valley happened hours ago. They can be anywhere, I dunno even where to start...and how you expect me to hold them somewhere? They are the 'bad' halves of the other Six and the Dragon Warrior, those that would hurt anyone without a second thought, who aren't afraid, have all the kung fu skills and...and we don't know where is the mirror! I-I'll never manage to do this, at least not alone!" I exclaimed quickly.

"We have no choice, Liu! Neither time to lose! If you fail, you know the consequences..." he said, making me be quiet and thoughtful. The responsibility was too great, and the consequence of failure would be losing my mother and my friends forever. I couldn't fail, and wouldn't give up.

"...Roger that! Now I..." I was going to say that I was on my way and would look for them, but choked when I saw six figures smiling while looking at me over the head of Master Shifu.

"They're behind me, aren't they?..." he asked, without turning around.

"And guess what time it is now..." said Monkey, with a playful tone.

"It's Hug Time!" they said together, happily.

"Liu, Run!" Master Shifu exclaimed to me.

I gave a bounce back before those distributors of cuteness managed to grab me with a big hug, which made them and Master Shifu fall on the floor. He squirmed beneath them trying to break free, getting short of breath because of all the weight on him. Po stared at me as he hugged our Master and the others.

"Hey, Liu! I haven't hugged you today! Come Here..." he opened his arms and came towards me.

"RUN, LIU! Do what has to be done! I'll be fine! Don't look back!" shouted Master Shifu, trying to break free from the hug of his apprentices.

I obeyed immediately and without question. I had an important mission, and if Po grabbed me, certainly I wouldn't manage to break free. I ran away from him before he caught me, but Po followed me. I had to outwit him before leaving the Jade Palace.

Po followed me persistently throughout most of the Jade Palace, and the more I tried to run, seemed more difficult to achieve. After a while, Viper and Crane also began to follow me, and tried to corner me to get a hug. Crane tried to fly behind me and gave several flybys, but I jumped to escape, making him hit his face on the walls and pillars of the Hall of Heroes. Viper and Po followed me relentlessly by floor, until the three ended up taking me to the Training Hall, trapping me. I was starting to get tired, and my leg would soon start to hurt. I had to think fast to escape before they grabbed me.

"Wow!...I don't believe it!" I exclaimed, staring at the ceiling of the Training Hall.

"What?!" exclaimed the three together, not understanding.

"Are you telling me that you haven't seen yet?" I said, still staring at the ceiling.

"See what?!" they insisted.

"Over There! Upstairs!" I pointed with my finger to the ceiling. In fact, there was nothing to show but knowing they were the half that had all the ingenuity of them, I decided to try fooling them.

"I don't see anything" muttered Crane.

"Neither do I" Viper agreed.

"You aren't looking at the right place!I'm talking about That!" I insisted, pointing again to the ceiling.

They passed by me, squinting to try to see what I was trying to show. None of them realized I left silently the Training Hall and headed to the Valley of Peace.

Once there, I was tired after running down the whole staircase, then I realized that my mission had begun. I still had no idea where to start looking, but for sure I couldn't do it alone. Then I remembered I had someone who could help me: Tuggsy! I ran to his stall to ask him for help. After I confirmed the story about the mirror, and that I needed his help, he agreed to help me.

"Where do we start?" he asked, already in a hurry to go.

"...To be honest, I haven't the slightest idea..." I replied sheepishly. Suddenly, I ended up looking around and saw an old goose who was packing boxes with fireworks.

"Excuse-me sir, I need your fireworks! It's an emergency!" I exclaimed, running up to him and already picking up two fireworks.

"Hey! Who are you to go taking my stuff like this?!" he complained.

"Oh, Hi! My name is Liu "The Jade" Zhang and..." I would introduce myself, but Tuggsy interrupted me.

"Liu! Come on!"

"I'm going! I have no time to explain, sir! Send the bill to the Jade Palace" I answered quickly, then ran back to Tuggsy.

"Jade Palace?!" I heard he ask himself before I left, as if he didn't believe that I lived there.

"Take that! It's almost certain that they are no longer in the Valley, but it's better to check. Look for the Valley and the bamboo forest, I'll look for them elsewhere" I explained.

"Right...and for what are the fireworks, exactly?" he asked.

"If one of us find them, just off fireworks that the other will know they were found" I explained.

"But what if they see that I'm there?! How do you want me to off fireworks near them?" he asked, concerned for his safety.

"Well,off it and then run to another hiding place..." I replied calmly, but also thoughtful about the possibility of them find me at the time I off the fireworks.

"...Simple as that?!" he asked ironically.

"It's that or run all the way until we find each other...If we find! Now let's go! We don't have much time" I said, already running away, to look for my friends, that wouldn't be so friendly to me when I find them.

I left the Valley and went through the bamboo forest, but there was no sign of them. The most likely places to find them were in the neighboring villages. One by one, I searched in alleys, inside the houses, I asked the citizens if they knew where my friends were, but nothing! They weren't anywhere. After nearly two hours running from one side to the other, I began to feel very tired and my injured leg started to hurt again.

They weren't around, but I needed to find them. But where would I find them? None of the nearby villages had even seen my friends for weeks. Then I remembered something important: the Valley of Peace! It was vulnerable to another attack. Tuggsy hadn't off his fireworks yet, what meant that my friends weren't there, but when I remembered of the Valley, I remembered something else that could help me in the search. Who used the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang in my friends? I was pretty sure it was one of the villains we knew. It had to be someone who had the ability to enter the Jade Palace and use the mirror without waking everyone.

"Who has enough skill to do it?...Tong Fo? No, he's in the jail...Junjie? No, he's also in the jail... Fung and the Croc Bandits...no, they are too stupid for that...Temutai? With that huge butt, yelling instead of talking and with those delicate feet, I doubt it was him..." I started thinking about which of our enemies could have done it, until I remembered a possible probability "Aff...really?!...*sigh* Well, it's been a while since he got out of jail, I should check out at least" I concluded.

I took a deep breath before rushing out. The only possible answer was also unlikely. I couldn't believe in the possibility that the 'bad parts' of my friends were taking orders. But if it were true, it would be a big problem.

After a few minutes running, I reached my destination,Taotie's house. It was very quiet inside. My mother, Tigress, told me several things about our enemies and the several battles against them, and what I remembered from Taotie was about how much he wanted to prove to everyone that his machines were better than kung fu, and destroy the Jade Palace with them. I climbed on one of the high walls of the terrain, that were taller than the house itself, then looked from one side to the other looking for traps.

Seeing that my way was clear, I mentally planned a route to the house. I had to be silent. "Stealthy mode" I thought to myself. I jumped on a big tree on my left and used its branches to go down to the plain ground. Crouching, I was going through bushes and hiding behind other trees and bamboos, until I got close Taotie's house. I went to the side with my back leaning against the wall, then looked up and saw a round window above me. If I could reach it, I could see everything on the inside and not letting they see me.

I crouched to pick up momentum, but wasn't sure if it would work, my thigh was still hurting. In that case, I used my good leg to give momentum. I jumped twice before I could reach it with my left hand, then I managed to hold with my right hand as well, and used my feet to climb, until half of my body was on the inside of the house.

When I raised my head to look if there was anyone inside, I almost fell after been scared. Monkey! He was hanging upside down by his tail, in a wood just over two meters from me. I put my hand on my mouth so he wouldn't hear my cry of fear. After the fear ended, Monkey got out of the wood, that ran from side to side of the roof, and fell down to the ground. Then I saw what I feared: the others were also there! Po, Viper, Crane, Monkey, Mantis and my mother, Tigress. A few moments later, I saw someone coming towards them, Taotie!

"I was right...it looks like the improbable has become probable. It was him who caused all this mess! I need to call Tuggsy to come here and...n-no! First I need to know what Taotie is planning. If I call Tuggsy now, I'll never know...and they probably gonna get me" I told myself. So I straightened in the window, using the forearms to support myself, to be more comfortable while waiting for my enemy tell his plans.

"Well, well! Look if it's not our boss...coming to bother us again" Monkey grumbled. As he spoke, I realized what Tuggsy had said when we where in the Valley. Monkey's voice was quite different, he was talking faster and his voice sounded a little hoarse. It was very weird.

"And I will continue bothering for a long time, mister Monkey! You know very well that I have a job I need you all to do to me" Taotie snapped.

"And watch your mouth, fool! I am not going to be electrocuted because of your foolish stuff, again!" complained Mantis, walking toward monkey. His voice was also different.

"Shut up, small one! No one asked your opinion!" Monkey replied, angry. Crane then decided to enter the discussion. He seemed to speak with clogged nostrils.

"Oh my gosh...don't you two have anything better to do? Remain silent would be nice...since you've discussed during the whole mission. C'mon? You two..." Viper interrupted this time. Her voice also different, as if her speech and the snake sound she made with the tongue echoed in her mouth, making her voice sound eerily creepy.

"And what about you, birdie?! Why don't you let us have some fun, just for a change? Every time something cool happens you end up with all the fun. This is a habit or have you studied for it?!"

"No. The only things I have studied were the scales of how a speaking noodle can be idiot!" he retorted angrily.

"Well, that explains everything..." she continued.

"Explains what?!"

"Explains how much I like potatoes..."

"...And what potatoes has to do with..."

"Aff! You are not just annoying, you're also silly!" she said, roughly, lowering her head and squinting with disappointment and anger at the same time. Crane was very angry after that.

"Hehehe, you will let her speak these things about you, bridge neck?" Po spoke this time. His voice was not very different from what I knew, despite the fact that he was talking in a low tone, but very hostile and threatening.

"That's none of your business, your flabby fat panda!" Crane replied angrily, walking up to Po and staring firmly.

"And what if I say that it is, loser?" he replied, still with the same tone.

Before the discussions continued, my adoptive mother, Tigress, approached them, grabbed Viper by the tip of the tail and used it as a whip, winding her on Crane's neck, then whirled and flung them against a wall. Then landed a powerful blow with the palm of her hand in the belly of the Dragon Warrior, throwing him towards Monkey and Mantis, who were crushed by the weight of the huge panda.

"Enough talk, let's fight!" she growled.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I knew for sure that the 'bad' halves would behave very different from the 'good' halves, but I never imagined it would be such a big difference, up to the point of making my friends fighting each other for almost any reason. But what happened next was even more disturbing.

When they were all ready to fight, Taotie raised a hand holding a small wooden square, the size of a coin, with a red button. When he pressed the button, the 'bad' parts of my friends were electrocuted. A powerful electric current was visible passing around their whole body, and the sound of crackling static was frighteningly high. They groaned and agonized with pain. My heart clenched with worry, was Taotie going to kill them?

Luckily I was wrong. After a few agonizing seconds, he released the button and they stopped to take shock. The other Furious Six and the Dragon Warrior fell to their knees, out of breath or energy to continue on foot. Then Taotie spoke with a serious and threatening tone.

"Listen here, I do not care how much you hate one another, fighting like this is Forbidden from now on! I've hated you when you were friends, I am not going to piss myself Even More because of your hate! So stop Now with that childish...you are a team and..." Po interrupted.

"And who will force us to obey you, buddy?!"

"Well...err...I!..." he replied, a little embarrassed.

"Lame!" they all said at the same time.

"AH! Not you too! As if it is not already enough my lazy son saying it all the time!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, lame old guy! I heard that! Oh, and by the way: I don't keep saying 'lame' all the time! This is LAME!" his son, Bian Zao, replied by far.

"The kid's right. You suck. Why would we obey you?!" Viper growled, with her sinister voice.

"You really want me to answer?" he threatened, pointing the control toward her.

"NO!" everyone shouted, afraid that he pressed the button again.

"That is how I like it. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to tell our goals..." he would start, but was interrupted by the grumbling of dissatisfaction of my friends.

"Again?"

"Have you told it, this morning, before we go steal the Valley of Peace, remember?"

"Yes! Why tell all that boring stuff again?! "

"Because...because that's what I have to do now! Were is the fun on coming up with something so diabolical and don't remember several times? It gives an emphasis on the evil. It's one of the fun parts of being villain...and...a-and I told only what you had to do in the Valley and why I created you"

"Okay, okay! Be quick" he muttered, interrupting.

'Created'? What Taotie meant by that? This left me with a bad feeling. But before I do something, he began to explain everything.

"For a long time I wanted to prove that machines can be better than the pathetic kung fu, and finally I got a way to do this without even having to move. But I will not only show how the machines are better, I will show that they can also be better even in kung fu!" he walked to a wooden table that had a strange white and round machine, which had some blue colored cables, almost transparent, around it and a concave glass in the front. "I heard of a mirror called Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang, which separates the two halves of anyone. Based on my studies and after several failures, I finally managed to create a machine that does the same thing as it. I call it Soul Duplicator 2.0! I just need to aim for whom I want to copy, press the button and BUM, it's done! The copy is sent directly to this small glass tube" he said, opening the back of the machine and holding the small glass cylinder with a fingertip.

So that's what happened! After stealing the mirror, Taotie created that thing, sneaked in the Jade Palace and used the machine as me and the others were sleeping. I couldn't see the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang in the house, but one thing was certain, if I wanted to help my friends, I needed to get that machine. Taotie continued.

"Still needs some tweaking, not everything went as I expected, but for now everything is Perfect! HA-haha! I'll finally manage to destroy the Jade Palace! And it will be Shifu's students that will do it for me. But first...we need to collect some 'rents' from the Valley of Peace and do some 'loans' of the neighboring houses to be able to finish the secret weapon".

That was already more than enough for me. Taotie had created a machine with the same function as the Mystic Mirror of Yin and Yang, stole the 'bad parts' of my friends, wanted to use them to destroy the Jade Palace and loot elsewhere, and still had an ace up his sleeve, a secret weapon. I had no idea what could be the secret weapon, but I had no more time to stay there and find out.

Soon, the sun would set. If that happened, my friends would never return to normal, so I needed to do something, and fast. But first, I needed a plan. There were four things I needed to do: call Tuggsy to help me, take Taotie's machine, take the control that gave shock to my friends, and make the 'bad' halves look in the Mystic Mirror of Yin and Yang, bringing my friends to normal.

But that would be complicated. If I off fireworks to call Tuggsy, I'd be discovered. They were all very close to each other and it'd be impossible to catch Taotie's machine without being seen, let alone the control. And worst of all was that the mirror wasn't there, but I had an idea: if the machine worked just like the mirror, then I just had to do what Taotie said, point and push the button.

I was sure that my ideas weren't 100% perfect and had a great risk of going wrong. But I had to try. First I needed to call Tuggsy, and with it came an idea: when I off the fireworks, they would leave the house, so I could go in and get the machine.

"That's it! Do I still have those...yes! Thanks, Tuggsy" I looked in my pocket and found what wanted: three balls of paper, smoke bombs! Tuggsy learned to do them and gave me some, it'd be very useful now. "When I enter the house, I can pick up the machine and steal the remote control. And when they see me I use these smoke bombs...*sigh*...well, it's now or never" I concluded.

I put my plan into practice. I let the window I was holding and fell to the ground, then picked up a match that was in my pocket and lit the small rocket wick. I closed my eyes and pointed it up, but a problem occurred. I had held the cylinder upside down and I off the firework on the floor, which got almost buried in the ground.

"Seriously?!" I exclaimed, taking the rocket with my hand. Acting fast, I ran toward the wall and used it to take an impulse to run up, then spin in the air and threw the firework as loud as I could.

When it exploded, several meters above the house, beautiful red sparks spread through the air. Then I could hear a conversation inside the house.

"What was that?!" exclaimed Taotie.

"I do not know, but it seems that came from the yard!" Crane said.

"All of you, check the area and see if there is no intruder around. If there is...you know what to do!" Taotie ordered.

Before everyone got out the front door, I jumped in the window as before. Using the large wooden planks ranging from side to side of the roof, I went to the other side of the house silently, without my enemy see me. When I was right on top of him, I jumped on his back, knocking him to the ground.

"Ouch! What the heck is going on ?! HE..." he would shout for help, but before that happened I struck the back of his head with the palm of my hand, crushing his nose to the ground.

"Your plan won't work, villain! I heard everything and I won't let you use my friends to do your evil deeds. Now..." I was going to continue, but I realized that he wasn't listening. "Ah...he fainted. He isn't going to listen to you, Jade" I told myself.

I left off the unconscious body and continued with my plan. I took the weird machine and put under my right arm, it was pretty heavy compared to the size, almost the same size as a big bowl of noodles. "Okay! Now I just need to find the...Damn it!" I was looking for the control, but I ended up stepping on it by mistake. Luckily I didn't broke it.

I took the small control and put in my pocket, then tried to get out the way I came, but I was taken off guard when I tried.

"Where do you think you're going?" Monkey looked at me sternly. I almost fell back because the fright took me off balance.

They found me earlier than I've planned. I tried to run and walk out the front door, but when I approached, it was broken with a powerful shot that threw me away. The others came and stood in front of me, staring at me with menacing eyes. I noticed that the whites of their eyes had a flame similar to a burning fire, and paying close attention, you could hear fire crackling sparks coming from within their bodies, it was scary. Why the 'bad' parts of them was like that?

"*gasp*...Too late, bad parts of my friends! I took the machine, now you are going back to being just one, and my friends will go back to normal!" I said, then I got the machine and, while targeting them, pressed the button repeatedly.

Something very bad happened. Nothing! Nothing happened when I pressed the button. Not even the machine made a noise, and the 'bad' parts of my friends were still staring at me.

"So...was something supposed to happen..." Crane murmured.

"W-what?! No! It can't be broken! Not now!" I exclaimed, desperately pressing the button again several times.

"Well, it seems that the fun is about to begin" Po said, walking with the others slowly toward me.

"Well...hehe! I think it's time for me to go, I guess I heard the bell and it must be dinner time...so I'm Leavin Now, Folks!" I said, raising my hand to throw smoke bombs on the ground.

"NO! PLEASE!" Shouted Taotie, waking suddenly "My precious machine...don't do it" I looked at my hand raised. By mistake, I was holding the machine, not the smoke bombs.

"Oops! Hehe! My bad..." I put the machine under my arm again and grabbed the little balls, then I threw them on the floor with all my strength.

To my misfortune, they blew, but only a very small white cloud of smoke, that covered only my feet, emerged. Everyone stared at me with serious eyes, that made me ashamed.

"Err...hehe...can we pretend that there is a lot of smoke here?...And you let me go...because you don't know where I am..." I asked, with shyness and fear at the same time.

"No" they said together.


	11. Chapter 2 (part 5)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 5)**

My plan was a total failure, and now I was going to pay for being careless. Po gave me a strong punch in the face, throwing me toward a wall behind me and making me topple the machine on the floor. I tried to catch it again, but Mantis grabbed my hand quickly and twisted my arm to wedge it on my back. I agonized with pain, thinking he would break my arm, then fell to my knees on the floor, no longer able to stay in that position. Once I touched my knees on the floor, Monkey ran towards me and gave me a kick in the chin, lifting me off the ground.

Before I had time to react, Viper ran towards me and curled up on my neck and on my hand, then started to get me to punch my own face. She released me and hit my nose with all her strength, using the tip of the tail. I unbalanced again and fell sideways on the ground. I tried to get up to run away, but before I even stayed up, my mother, Tigress, grabbed me by the wrist, punched me in the stomach and threw me with all her might toward Po, who gave me a bellyful and threw me back to Tigress, that using a powerful right hook knocked me upward. Finally, Crane flew quickly towards me and gave me a kick with both legs, hitting me in the stomach and throwing me away.

I hit my back in the window and I one half of my body was outside of the house while other was inside. I groaned with the agonizing pain that ran through my body. Scared, I thought I had broken my spine, but luckily I was wrong and I could move myself, but when I did, fell out of the window and hit my belly on the hard dirt floor.

"D-damn it...*gasp* if I keep up like this...I will...*moan of pain*...end up dying! I hope...I hope Tuggsy comes soon with someone else to help..." I concluded.

I was getting up slowly, but stopped when I heard a loud noise of brick breaking. The wall in front of me was being struck from the inside, and soon it began to fall. I gathered all my energies, got up quickly and ran away before the wall fell on me.

When it fell, a large curtain of brown smoke rose, and suddenly the silhouettes of the 'bad' parts of my friends appeared. Their eyes seemed to glow like fire. It was scary.

"My wall! You fools! You will fix everything that you break after this fight" Taotie shouted from inside the house, angry. I could see my friends tighten their eyes with hatred and indignation as he said that.

I was in a very big trouble. I was hurt even before get a chance to start fighting, and I'd have to fight six opponents at the same time. But these opponents weren't like any thug or villain, they were The Furious Six (Five in this case) and the great Dragon Warrior! During my training, I always fight with them, but I could never win a single fight.

They've trained kung fu even before I was born. I had no chance of winning. But this couldn't prevent me from fulfilling my mission, otherwise I'd never have my friends back. I needed another plan.

Considering that I was outnumbered, had much lower kung fu skills and I couldn't escape the combat, I had only one chance: to tire them. Soon Tuggsy would bring help. I wasn't foolish to believe that I could defeat them alone. However great the pain of this battle, I'd just have to dodge and defend from their blows, otherwise the chances of winning were nil. I stood up, took a deep breath and went into a defensive fight position, putting my right foot back, left hand at the height of my chest and right at the waist.

"Well, well, well! It seems that the little brat will defend herself" sneered Monkey.

"Good! I was eager to be able to take the life of something today! Hehehe" Viper said, with her creepy voice.

"You bet!" Crane and Mantis agreed.

"Leave it to me, guys! I'm going to take care of her" Po said, already cracking his neck and preparing to fight.

"Ha-ha! Listen here, loser: do you really think we will let only you have some fun?" Tigress said. I shivered when she said that, by thinking that, somehow, the words had been spoken by my own mother. Taotie approached.

"Don't you dare to start arguing! Stop fighting each other, c'mon!" he ordered angrily. They stared at him but didn't answer. "Let's do like this: each will have 20 seconds to fight alone. And after everyone has gone once, you will attack together and finish her off!" he said with a firm tone.

"Ah! Why don't you close your mouth, Taotie?" Po replied angrily.

"Besides giving us orders you also want to teach us how to do our own job?" Crane snapped.

Taotie took his control again and electrocuted my friends.

"Still do not agree?" he asked ironically.

"I don't!" I replied by far.

"Fighting or not is not something that you can choose, little girl. Get her!" he ordered.

I didn't want to show how much I was relieved, but the truth was that I felt much better to know that I wasn't going to fight with they all at once. So maybe Tuggsy could arrive in time to help me.

The first to run towards me was Monkey. I still wanted to follow my strategy, just dodge the blows and defend myself. He attacked me first, giving a big jump, doing a somersault in the air and trying to hit a kick in my head. I pulled my head back, making him miss the blow, then grabbed his foot with both hands, spin on the spot and threw him away from me.

He got up, showing rage in his eyes, then came for another attack by doing a quick sequence of punches, aiming on my trunk and on my face. As he attacked, I walked back and defended myself from the blows using my hands and forearms. He was quick, and increased the speed of his attacks increasingly, until after a while I ended up going backwards and hit my back on one of the walls surrounding the ground.

Without realizing it, I stopped defending myself to look at what had hit my back and opened my guard. Monkey took the chance and hit me a strong punch in the stomach, leaving me gasping for air. I was without reaction after that and didn't know how to get out of there. Then he gave more punches in my ribs and my belly, then he gave me a kick in the chin, causing me to hit the wall and back toward him again. When I was falling on his direction, he struck my chest with his palm. I felt like my heart had stopped for a moment.

A tremendous pain was all over my chest. It seemed that something was squeezing my lungs and my heart inside my body. At that moment I felt like I was already unable to continue fighting. I coughed with shortness of breath, and noticed some blood came out of my mouth.I fell to my knees, and then immediately I heard someone approaching.

"Your time is up! Now it's my turn!" it was Crane. He took a flyby and threw Monkey away from me, then flew into the air again.

I forced my body to keep moving and went back to where I had started the fight with Monkey. I took several deep breaths quickly, then I returned to my defensive position. Crane gave some pirouettes in the air and then quickly flew towards me, almost touching his body on the floor.

I did a backflip, jumping over him before he could hit me, then I kicked him in the back as he passed under me. Crane continued going forward, staggering and kicking up dust from the ground. I felt my heart ache with the pain again. I groaned in agony and put a hand on my chest to relieve the pain.

"Hahaha! I thought you were going to give her lesson, birdie" Po laughed.

"How pathetic!" sneered Tigress. Crane was furious now.

"Shut up!...Grrrr, now you are going to pay for it, little girl!" he shouted, then flew toward me.

While in the air above me, Crane took a spin and was going to give me a blow with his wing. I put my left arm over my face to defend myself, but I repented. The tip of the wing passed through my arm, as sharp as a blade, and left a large scratch on my forearm. I screamed with pain, then went struck in the hindhead by the other wing and fell on the floor.

How had he done it? I'd already fought against Crane and seen him fight, several times, but he had never done it before. He had no blades on the wings, so how did he cut me using that move? Now matter how, now I knew I should avoid defend myself, and start only dodging the blows.

I got up, and so I was going to looking backwards to know were he was, he kicked me in the nose using both feet, while flying. Then he grabbed me by the leg and flew up, and threw me on the roof of the house. Tiles were broken when I hit them. Before I could get up to react, he grabbed me by the back of my shirt and flew into the air.

He spin a few times in the air and then flew toward the ground. A few meters before we knock, he threw me with all his strength, throwing me to the ground. I fell on my right shoulder, faced down, and I thought it had been broken. I groaned with pain.

"18...19...20! My Turn!" Mantis shouted, already running towards me.

I could barely get up after the impact. When the thought that I had faced only two of my enemies crossed my mind, I felt a desire to give up the fight and accept my fate. But I shook my head to send that thought away, how could I give up my friends? That wasn't going to happen!

I stared firmly my next opponent, but I didn't get up, he was too close for me to get up and begin to defend myself. Instead, I raised my left hand and gave a very hard and strong slap on his back, smashing him on the ground.

"Can't you guys give me a little time, dammit?! That's cheating! You are already better than me, and will keep beating me without giving me time to breathe?! How about a break between each fight? Then I can fight longer with you..." I thundered, then suggested.

"I agree with the idea of the break time..." Mantis nodded, still under my hand.

"Well, well! It seems that the insect is the only useless one who will beg for mercy! Hahahaha...what a shame" sneered Viper, with her chilling voice.

"Come on, little girl! Don't tell us you're already thinking about giving up?...We haven't even begun" Po told me, with a threatening and challenging tone.

I didn't answer, I just stopped to think how much longer I could handle that. I looked at the sky, soon the sun would set. Where was Tuggsy?! If he doesn't get here soon, it would be the end for me, and we'd never be able to bring my friends back.

"Shut up! I'm not useless, You are useless! Now you will pay for mocking me... FEEL THE BUG!" he cried under my hand, then lifted it and twisted my wrist.

I could no longer stand the idea of just defend myself without attacking, I needed to do something. I turned my body so he wouldn't immobilize me as before, then I kicked him, throwing him away. I got up and went into fighting position, the same as my mother, Tigress.

Mantis came for another attack, trying to jump on me and hit blows on the nerves in my body. If he could, he'd probably paralyze some of my members, but I managed to block the blows placing my palms in front of him before being hit. A few seconds later, he managed to hit me a blow on the chin, but I counter-attacked with a kick, throwing him towards the others. He hit the belly of Po and then fell to the ground. Taotie was counting the seconds.

"15...16...17..." he was interrupted.

"AAAH! Heck, I can't stand to wait! I don't know even why we are waiting! Enough, lets just get this brat and continue with our mission. I want to get rid of her as soon as possible so then we can get rid of other useless" complained Po.

"I totally agree!" said Monkey.

"And what are we waiting for?! Attack!" Viper ordered, then they all came running towards me.

They didn't follow the orders of their boss, but Taotie didn't stop them. Tuggsy hadn't arrived to help yet. Again, my plan failed, because I wouldn't manage to tire my enemies until he arrived, I couldn't even fight with one of them at a time, let alone now that they would attack together.

There was still one thing I try to do: find the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang. The machine may not have brought my friends to normal, but certainly the mirror would. I checked my back pocket quickly. Bingo! There was one smoke bomb yet.

"Please...you gotta work this time!" I exclaimed, raising my hand to throw the smoke bomb on the ground.

It worked! Once the ball of paper touched the ground, it broke out and a great cloud of gray smoke rose, covering up Taotie's house. I bent down to ensure no one would hit me and then ran into a tree which I knew that was on my right side. I went up to a thick branch, where I stood, waiting for the smoke be gone.

"Where did she go?" asked Crane, looking from one side to the other.

"She ran away! Coward..." muttered Monkey.

"She can not be far! Find her!" ordered Taotie.

I crouched on the branch and began to catch my breath. I was panting, it seemed that that was my limit. But after all, what was I thinking? They were the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior, but in a bad and cruel version. How could I even think that I would put up to fight them alone, and Tire them? But now it wasn't the time to stop and think about it, I needed to find the mirror and save my friends.

"Trying to escape, Liu?" a shiver went up my whole column, it was my mother, Tigress! She was behind me, on the same branch, supporting the back and one foot on the trunk of the tree, with arms crossed.

I got up quickly after the fright and almost fell off the branch. I looked her in the eyes, just like the others, a flame was burning in her eyes, and I could hear the faint crackle of sparks coming from her inside. Her presence caused me a very great fear, leaving me with the feeling that that thing in front of me wasn't the 'bad part' of my mother, but a monster who wanted to kill me.

"M-mom..."

"No...she's dead, just like the rest of your family" she said, coldly.

"...You...you..."

"The fear is that big? How could I adopt someone weak like you? I must have had pity on you that day"

"W-what?!"

"You should have run away when you had the chance, Jade! Have you forgotten that no one here is your friend? The only thing waiting for you here, is death "

"Mom...stop it...please!"

"Shut up!" she screamed, then stretched her claws and set out for an attack.

I couldn't react, it was very shocking to me. Even though that wasn't really my mother, a part of me told me it was. Hearing those words from that thing that looked like my mother, spoke as her, walked like her...it shocked me too much to want to keep going. It was all over.

She dug her sharp claws on my thigh, which had been hurt by the sword of Hina, then tore my leg until her claws come out the other side. The pain was immeasurable, as if this time four swords had cut my thigh, instead of one. Then she scratched my belly, cutting off the part of my shirt that covered it, so she gave me a strong blow to the chest using her palm, like Monkey had done. I was thrown to where I was when I threw the smoke bomb. Once I hit the hard dirt floor, I felt my heart stop for a moment again. I was out of breath, blood came out of my mouth when I coughed, I seemed to hear the strong beat of my heart to decrease its pace. I put my hand on my chest to ease the pain, but to no avail.

"It seems that the game is over" sneered Monkey.

"That is Perfect! What amazing experience, I'm seeing that my work paid off  
...well, she does not serve us for anything, finish her" Taotie said.

"Sure" they all said, starting to approach me.

At that moment, I heard the sound of something cutting the air. Shurikens! The Five and the Dragon Warrior turned away from me quickly, six silver shurikens dug in the ground. That could only mean one thing: Tuggsy! But something surprised me.

"Stay away from her!" the voice of a girl, probably my age, sounded behind me. That voice...was familiar. I knew that voice from somewhere, someone I hadn't seen for a long time.

A clouded leopard jumped above me and went to attack the aggressors. She was wearing a very similar combat gear that Tuggsy gave me, but it was white, and instead of throwing knives, she had shurikens, and on her back she carried a wooden stick. I couldn't identify who she was, she was wearing a mask, also white, with a beautiful lotus flower drawn, covering the left half of the mask, which had just an opening that you could see her blue eyes.

She attacked the six fiercely, using an excellent kung fu skills, and when they decided to attack her, she grasped her wooden stick and defended from all the blows they tried to hit her. Who could be that girl? I was pretty sure I knew her, but I couldn't remember.

Out of nowhere, I began to cough several times, I could no longer follow the fight. I was losing consciousness, my heart was beating with increasing force, as if it would burst. My sight blurred, and when a huge blue smoke, which came from a smoke bomb, appeared suddenly, I fainted.

I woke up in the Jade Palace. It was a dark, but realized that I was in my room. I rubbed my eyes and tried to sit up, a strong pain in my belly made me moan in pain. And then I felt the presence of someone watching me from the door.

"Phew! Thank goodness...I was afraid that you would not wake up" it was Master Shifu. He entered the room carrying a tray with a pot of tea and a packet that seemed to have some medicine or herb inside.

"Master Shifu..." I said, half dazed.

"Oh my God! Liu! Liu, you're fine! I-I'm so sorry, I was away and couldn't get there in time...it is my fault you almost died" lamented Tuggsy, which came into my room and gave me a big hug, almost crying.

"Tuggsy...it wasn't your fault...and what's more, you saved me! And my friends too..." I replied calmly.

After saying that, a dead silence came. Tuggsy stopped hugging me, he seemed to want to say something, but just got his head down and closed his eyes. That didn't seem good, Master Shifu also looked away when I looked at him. Tuggsy swallowed before speaking.

"...Um-uh...Liu, it wasn't me who saved you"

"Er, well, apparently the girl who was with you helped a lot, but..." he interrupted.

"Let me tell you all what happened...*sigh* when I saw the fireworks, I didn't stop to think about calling someone...and when I got to the house of Taotie, that girl came out of nowhere behind me, then I recognized, I was under the impression of being followed, and I really was! She was following me since I started the look for...but anyway, then she said she knew you and that she would help. She didn't say her name, just jumped over the wall and went on the attack"

"And I have to thank her when I find her again, but...it was you who threw the smoke bombs and brought me here, right?" I tried to console him, he was too sad, I guess I'd never seen him like this before.

"When I threw the smoke bombs, Viper, Mantis and Crane attacked me. I just didn't take a beating as much as you because an unexpected rescue came" he explained, still downcast.

"Unexpected rescue?" I asked. It was Master Shifu who answered this time.

"Koshi and Leona. They were here for a while, but left, they said they had something important to do. They wish you to get well soon"

"Wow...it's been a while since the last time I've seen these two, I have to visit them one day" I said. Then Tuggsy continued counting.

"Well...after they arrived, they managed to soften things up a bit...the problem is..."

"Problem?..." I asked, already scared and thinking the worst.

"...Koshi, Leona, me and...whoever is that girl, spend a good time fighting...the battle was vicious...we lost a lot of time trying to stop them and didn't even know how to make they back to normal...the mirror... "

"...Y-you're saying that...you didn't find the mirror?..." I felt a heavy heart.

"No...Koshi managed to catch a strange machine and Leona took a small control that was with Taotie, but...we were exhausted...the girl yelled for all of us to run away and then threw a smoke bomb on the ground. I carried you while Koshi and Leona escorted me along the way, and the girl fled in another direction, attracting Po and the others...and now we are here" he finished explaining.

That could only mean one thing: my friends hadn't returned to normal! I heard laughs coming from somewhere close, it were my friends' 'good' halves talking. I froze for a moment. They hadn't yet returned to the normal.. my mission! The desperation was stronger, I got up fast, I needed to see if the sun had set.

"No! My friends! My mother..." I fell to the ground, then I noticed that my leg had a new bandage, but the pain was still too great.

"Liu, stop...we need to talk" Master Shifu tried to stop me, but I ignored him.

"No! It can't be..." I ran, limping through the hall. I noticed that the lights were already on.

"Liu, come back here" Tuggsy yelled from my bedroom's door.

I didn't stop. I couldn't believe that I'd failed. My mission must to keep on, my friends and my mother depended on me. If I failed, they'd never return to normal. I just had to find the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang.

"No...*crying sob*...it's not over yet...it can't be the end..." I went out to the outside. A sky full of stars and the full moon illuminated the palace and the Valley.

"*gasp*...Liu..." Tuggsy followed me, but didn't know what words to use now.

"NO! No no no...no...it can't be *cry*...I've failed!...My friends...and my mother...will never go back to normal" I said, sad and angry with myself. I fell sitting on the floor with my whole body tense.

"Liu, calm down" Master Shifu spoke this time.

"HOW can I calm down?! HOW? How can I calm down now, Master? They'll never go back to what they were before...and it's my fault!"

"No, Liu. None of this is your fault. But now it is not time to panic. Calm your emotions...we are going to get them back to normal. I promise" he soothed me.


	12. Chapter 2 (part 6)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 6)**

I wasn't sure if what he said was to just to make me calm down or if he really planed to do something about it, but one way or another, I knew it was my fault. I'd failed in my mission, and that no one could deny. Master Shifu was quiet for a moment and then left me and Tuggsy alone, outside the palace.

"Liu...I'm so sorry..." Tuggsy said, as if he was trying to vent.

"You're sorry for what? It wasn't your fault...it was mine" I replied with a low tone.

"No, that's not it...I'm sorry for what is happening. It must be a lot of pressure for you. In a single day you almost died, felt more embarrassed than ever, limped from one side to the other all day...had an impossible mission to fulfill, took a beating, nearly died again, and now this problem with the 'bad' parts of our friends and your mother..."

"Wow, thanks for the sincerity, I feel so moved now..."

"Would you prefer me to lie?" he replied, but seemed more to be trying to cheer me than willing to discuss.

"No *giggle*...*sigh*...Tuggsy, what we gonna do? I mean, the sun set, how Master Shifu plans to get together the two halves again?"

"Want honesty? I have No idea. But one thing I am sure: Master Shifu keeps his promises! If he says he'll bring our friends back, then he will" he said with confidence.

"I wish I were just as optimistic as you..." I said, still a bit crestfallen.

"Oh, come on, Jade! Only because of what happened today you will stay like that? Give me a break, you don't even seem to be the girl who is strong, smart and determined girl I..." he slowed his speech after seeing that I was smiling and blushing with all his praises, he felt ashamed "...Er, I mean, got it? It isn't worth to stay that way. Your mission isn't over yet."

"Isn't it?" I asked, confused.

"Of course not! You have to bring our friends back to normal. If you couldn't today, you get it another day" he tried to cheer me up again.

"Talk is cheap...but thank you, Tuggsy. You're right, tomorrow is a new day. Let's see what Master Shifu has in mind to solve this and then we'll fix this up" I said, regaining my mood.

"Excellent, Jade! And besides, you'll need a long night's sleep. Tomorrow you will need your strength" he said with a smile that I didn't understand what meant.

"Well, I always need...but why tomorrow, exactly?" I asked curiously.

"Don't you have to train to compete in that event, in a week?" he asked.

"Yes, but..." he interrupted.

"That's right! Master Shifu said your training starts tomorrow, and I know that the training will be that one you'll have to do the 100 laps in Training Hall. Phew! It's so good not being you, sometimes" he said, trying to hold back a laugh.

"What?! You're kidding, right? The training starts Tomorrow?" I exclaimed.

"Well, that's not up to me to decide. If you want to complain, talk to Master Shifu" he said.

"*sigh* I think I'll follow your advice and get some sleep *yawn*...sleeping won't hurt me" I replied, almost closing my eyes.

"Okay. So, good night, Liu! Gotta go, my parents must be worried about me" he came to me and gave me a goodbye hug, then turned to go down the stairs.

"Yes, good night!" I said goodbye, then went I went to my room.

I didn't find Master Shifu in the way. I could just listen to the comforting sound of silence. Only nature seemed to exist as I walked slowly up to my room, the wind whistled on the outside of the palace, carrying the delicious smell of cherry trees, which makes everything very calm at night. The weather was pleasantly warm.

I stopped in front of my room. I was thoughtful, remembering I've failed in such an important mission left me with a very bad feeling, and not knowing how my master would be able to help my friends made me tense. I lay down on my bed but couldn't sleep.

Something was missing at that time, my mother, Tigress! We always say good night to each other and to others before we go to sleep. Where was she? I got up and went out to find her. My senses sharpened in the silence, which was unusual. All the rooms were empty, I could only see the light of a candle coming from the kitchen. I took it to light my way.

Perhaps Master Shifu was with them. I walked slowly through the palace, it was scary to walk by that place at night. I knew monsters don't exist, I stopped believing in them even when I lived in the Bao Gu Orphanage, but I could have sworn I was being watched and followed in the darkness. I lit every corner and wall all the way, until I got to the room of Master Shifu.

He was sitting on the floor in front of a wooden table, writing a letter. I looked around, Po and the other Six weren't with him.

"Master Shifu" I bowed.

"Hello, Liu. Come in" he said then, turning back and went back to writing.

"Master, I can't find my mother and others. I thought they were sleeping in only one room, but all the rooms are empty. By chance, do you know where they are?" I asked, with a little sleep.

"No, Er...Liu, are all the lights out?" he asked.

"They are. Why?" I asked, not understanding.

"You had the feeling of being followed?" he continued.

"...Yes" I replied, now with a hint of concern.

"Liu...calmly, look back, and if it is one of them, just run as fast as you can" he said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

That made me a little scared, but after I looked back slowly I got what my master meant.

"JADE! MASTER SHIFU!" Po, my mother and others Furious exclaimed with excitement.

The 'good' parts stared at me and my master with big eyes full of cuteness that looked like they were going to jump out of their faces. I felt a shiver down the spine soon after.

"Liu, Run!" Master Shifu said. But before I had time to follow his advice, Po grabbed me and gave me a strong hug that almost broke me in half.

"You ran away from me this afternoon and I couldn't give you that strong panda hug. Oh, I was missing you!" he said with a very affectionate tone. I saw that Crane and Viper had already hugged Master Shifu, or better, smashed him.

"Let me go! I have to finish writing an urgent letter!" he shouted, but none of them seemed to give much importance.

"And guess what time it is?" said Mantis, with a cheerful tone.

"Let me guess, it's hug time again" I said dismissively, still trying to free myself of Po.

"No, hug time is at two in the afternoon until four-thirty and eight o'clock until nine. In this special moment, it's time to go to sleep!" said Monkey, who was hugging Po too.

"Oh no..." Master Shifu and I said together.

I was already sure of what would happen. Now we were going to sleep together in the same room and all hugging. It would be strange, but I didn't mind so much being with my mother and my friends, but surely Master Shifu wouldn't like it.

We were taken to the Crane's room. There, they were still holding Shifu and I, to don't let us escape, and then lay on the ground next to each other. Shifu and I didn't have much choice but to wait quietly until they were asleep.

I was almost asleep too, until Po released me. Finally I'd get out of that suffocation! I tried to crawl to the door, but barely walked and I was grabbed again. I heard a big yawn, it was my mother, Tigress, who had grabbed me this time. After grab me and give me a big hug that left me gasping for air, she returned to snore. I saw that she and Po were spooning. When I realized that, I didn't know whether that was weird or cute. They slept like babies. And my mother began to purr while fast asleep.

"It is useless, Liu" whispered Master Shifu, not to wake the others. Monkey was holding him while Mantis slept on top of his head. Crane slept peacefully with Viper wrapped around his neck.

"So we'll stay like this until the gong sounds in the morning?" I asked, also whispering.

"Apparently we don't have much of a choice...do you have a plan?"

"I don't think so...*yawn*...I'm too tired to think of something to..." I stopped talking. At that moment, my mother passed her rough tongue over my nape up to my forehead, then repeated it 3 times and stopped. She did it in her sleep! "What the heck..."

"I saw so many weird things they did today...but this one exceeds them all" said Master Shifu.

"Yuckyuckyuckyuckyuck!...Gross!" I exclaimed, as I passed both hands on the head to dry myself.

"Shhhh! You are going to wake them" whispered Master Shifu.

"Bleh!...Mom usually talks in her sleep, but this..."

"...Well, I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do about it" he said, holding a laugh.

"...Okay, changing the subject, what was that message you were writing?" I asked curiously.

"It is a request to the Imperial Guard. The reality, Liu, is that if the souls of the Jade Palace's warriors are divided, China must know that it is not their fault, but Taotie's, who is controlling the 'bad' parts of them. I'll send the message tomorrow, saying what is happening, asking them to inform everyone about the situation and that they have to find them" he said.

"The Imperial Guard? Wow, that's...Wait. Don't you think it's dangerous?"

"How come?"

"If they find our friends, surely they will be attacked! The 'bad' parts don't have the notion of when to surrender and neither when they mustn't fight...and worse, the Imperial Guard can end up killing them!" I explained, concerned.

"Don't be silly, Liu. I'm only sending a searching request, they would never kill them. The Emperor himself recognizes the Dragon Warrior and the Furious 5, and it would be a disaster if they died"

"Furious 6..." I muttered.

"I know that, but the Emperor is not yet aware of a new member in the team, so I suggest that you take care to not happen the same to you" he warned me. I was worried about the possibility of that happening, but simply accepted the advice.

"Got it...but what about getting them back to normal? How do we do that?" I continued.

"One thing at a time, Liu. For now, let's focus on your training. I'm sure Hina will also train very hard to fight with you next week. But don't worry, I will handle these problems" he replied with a more serious tone, also encouraging me to don't worry so much about all those things.

"Okay...good night, Mas-" I stopped again, as soon as my mother gave me another big lick the nape "...yuck!". Then she returned to lick me, slowly and repeatedly. The problem was that this time it seemed that she wouldn't stop.

I tried to hold on, but it was just too weird. Slowly, not to wake her up, I put my hand on her mouth, making her stop licking me. But once I did it, she yawned and swallowed my hand. That was even more disgusting. I removed my hand from her mouth and cleaned it, shaking my hand to get out all the saliva. And soon after, she returned to lick me.

I gave a little sigh for failing to stop her. But I realized one thing, that wasn't that bad, it was like a caress. She passed slowly her rough tongue from my nape to the top of my head, I even felt a little shiver in the spine. Being hugged with my mother, receiving affection, with my friends around, I felt very happy and comfortable. Gradually, I closed my eyes and slept.

It was a very good night. It was pleasantly warm, I managed to sleep well and recover my strength. In the morning, I slowly opened my eyes and gave a big yawn. I looked around me, to my surprise, none of them had woken yet, even Master Shifu was snoring.

I remembered quickly everything that had happened yesterday, and felt again a little guilt for having failed in my mission.

"*sigh*...It seems that everything really happened...it wasn't just a dream. Well, at least now it's my chance to get out of here..." I said softly, trying to let go of my mother's arms, slowly.

I got up and walked on tiptoe to the door. I tried to open it as slow as possible, but it seemed that the more care I tried, the higher it squeaked. After opening it completely I felt a shiver down the spine to hear someone whisper my name.

"Liu! Psst! Liu" it was Master Shifu calling me.

"Master?!"

"Liu, please, do not leave me here!" he said.

"Oops...hehe, sorry. I didn't know you were awake"

"And you had the obligation to have woken me up if I was asleep. How can leave me alone with these...cute crazy beings?!" he muttered, still in a low tone.

"Ok, okay! I'll help you. And good morning, by the way" I replied.

I walked up to him on tiptoe. Then I helped him to his feet, slowly, and walked to the door quietly. But then a problem, I stepped on the tail of my mother!

"*YAAAaa ..." she sat up and groaned. Master Shifu and I were terrified to find that the others would wake up now. "aaawwn*...". Relieved, I realized it was just a big yawn. She finished yawning as she stretched her arms and went back to sleep grasped with Po.

"Phew! That was close" Me and Shifu said together, also relieved that the others haven't wake up. However, our relief didn't last long. As soon as we stepped out of the room, the bell had rung to wake everyone in the Valley of Peace.

Our friends got up without delay, already stretching and looking at each other.

"Good Morning, My Friends!" they said together. "Wow! We Speak the Same Thing at the Same Time! WOW! We Did It Again! *happy laughs*" I couldn't tell if all that joy was contagious or terrifying. But I'd say that the second one was more likely, as they turned their eyes to us at that time.

"Er...Good morning" I said, a little afraid of the reaction they could have.

"Good Morning, my beautiful Jade!" my mother got up running and hugged me tightly.

"Lets go guys! It's time for..." Monkey said.

"Breakfast!" the others said out loud, together.

I wished, no matter what it was, that Master Shifu's plan worked to bring our friends and my mother back. No matter the much I loved them, that was getting unbearable. Be friendly, cute and sweet is one thing, now be Just that 25 hours a day is too much.

Po prepared our breakfast, as usual. He made pancakes, but they were shaped like a smiling face. Seriously?! They had to be cute even in that? Luckily, Master Shifu was smart and fast. He told me to eat as much as I could and as quickly as possible. I obeyed, and as I finished he called Zeng.

"Hello! Yes, Master Shifu?" he came running and then bowed.

"Zeng, do you remember the vacation you asked me to give you, a few days ago?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, I do remember, Master"

"Would you like me to fulfill your wish?"

"Wow! Yes Master! Is this serious?"

"Yes, very serious. I just need you to do a little thing for me "

"Anything, Master Shifu! Just ask"

"Well...Po, Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Mantis, Viper, I have good news!" They turned to our Master to listen "Liu and I are going to be busy today, but Zeng agreed to play with you the entire day! No matter what you want!" he said. Our friends were very happy with the news.

"Yay!" They shouted together, already running to hug Zeng. They fell to the ground with excitement.

"M-Master Shifu! Help!" Zeng said when he managed to put his head out of cuteness ball.

"Thank you, Zeng! I knew I could count on you. Liu needs to train. Meantime, I need you to stay with them for only a week, then you can have that vacation you dreamed about" Master Shifu explained quickly.

"What?! But Master..." he started to protest, but Shifu interrupted.

"Okay, Zeng. Thank you very much! I'm going now, bye! Do not let me down" he said quickly and pulled me by the arm to get out of there as fast as possible.

"Noooo! Someone Help Me!" he cried desperately.

Master Shifu took me to the Training Hall for us to begin soon with the training. I was anxious to get started. It'd be a long and tiring day, and the training would be hard, but the reward would be great if I give my best.

We started with a list of physical exercises for me to do: 18 waist twists, 25 squats, 50 inclined twists, 25 leg lifting, 50 sit-ups, 50 pushups, 100 kicks and 200 punches. When I finished, I was sweating, but I wasn't that tired.

"Phew, finished! What a luck, I thought that today I'd have to do the circuit training in the Training Hall..." I said to myself "And now, Master? I'll train fight with you, train my skills with swords, or what?" I asked anxiously, motivated to keep training.

"How good you're so excited, Jade. Well, now that you've finished the warming, you can start the circuit in the Training Hall. But before..." he was going to continue, but I interrupted him. It took me by surprise.

"What?! You mean it was just the warming? And you still want me to do all the 100 laps in the Training Hall?! "grumbled.

"Basically, yes! But first, let me explain a few things about your training" he turned his back and walked to stand before the start of the circuit. I gave a little sigh, already thinking about the fatigue of training, but followed him and sat down to listen to what he'd explain.

"So...how will my training be, Master?" I asked.

"Well, first, I wanted to tell you, Liu, that you have a gift that only the greatest masters have: you learn very fast and your body and metabolism accompany this process without difficulty. As you are now one of the members of the Six Furious, much of your life is devoted to kung fu. Therefore, I believe that I can step up your training gradually, but this 'gradually' will make you greatly enhance your skills" he explained.

"Er...thank you, Master. I understood what you meant, but...I still don't understand how this will make a difference in my training" I said, a little embarrassed. He gave a small laugh and then answered.

"I think it will be easier for me to show you than trying to explain. You will understand once the training ends. Now...begin!" he replied.

Well, I couldn't do much but to obey. I breathed deeply, cracked my neck and started the training.

I started the same way as always, running in the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion, or as I prefer to call: treadmills. I ran from one end to the other and gave a backflip to run next, until those woods with thorns began to sway and move right next to me. I dodged them all until I finished on all treadmills.

Then I went to the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom, or as I liked to call: bowl. Balancing on the narrow ledges of it, I did several somersaults and tai chi movements. When finished, I went to the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. One by one, I made several sequences of blows in all the 16 wooden enemies, until I arrived at the last hurdle, the Field of Fiery Death, or simply: minefield.

Being careful not to burn myself, every 3 seconds I stopped with my kung fu moves to move and divert the huge flame that get off the ground where I stepped. After finishing, I ran up the wooden wall in the Training Hall's background, touched it and ran back to the minefield, to go to the other side again.

I repeated the same process in all obstacles, and once I got on the other side, I counted that I had made a lap. I completed 4 more laps and started wheezing, I found it weird, but I continued. Once I finished the sixth lap, Master Shifu called me.

"Liu, you're already starting to get breathless, and that's not normal, even for you" he said in a serious tone, leaving me worried.

"I'm doing the circuit in the best pace I can, Master. I'm just like this because I'm training, isn't it?" I asked.

"Hum...maybe. Do another lap in the same pace" he ordered.

I obeyed and started the circuit. This time he looked at me more closely. I realized that his gaze was fixed on me and each of my movements, and as I finished another lap, he asked me to stop and came to me.

"So...is there something wrong, Master?" I asked, catching my breath.

"Yes, but it's pretty simple to solve. Liu, you are holding your breath while running and during your attacks" he said.

"Holding my breath?" I echoed. I didn't believe at first, after all, I had never noticed that I was holding my breath to do these things. It should be an addiction of mine since he learned kung fu.

"Exactly. You're pulling as much air as you can before running and just breathing again when you feel you are out of breath, and while fighting it's the same thing. This is making you breathless and you will end up getting tired faster" he explained.

"Well...and how can I solve this?" I asked.

"Keep a constant breath. Breathe while running and release the air as soon as your lungs are full. And when you're striking, pull the breath and release slowly as you do the blows, then pull the breath again. Preferably, begin just breathing through the nose, and when you feel you are tired, breathe through your nose and exhale through your mouth" he explained.

I nodded and prepared to continue the circuit, following the advice of my Master this time. It worked perfectly! I managed to keep the same pace as before and even without getting out of breath.

I completed the 15th lap, yet at the same pace and without being breathless. Suddenly, when I was hitting the first wooden enemy in the Gauntlet of Wooden Warrior, I heard a familiar voice.

"Gotcha!" Someone jumped off the roof and knocked me to the ground, getting sitting on my back and holding my head.

"Damn it!" I exclaimed, a little scared and angry. To get rid of the aggressor, I held the hand that was holding my head and turned my body to give a nudge on his face.

Managed to get him out of me, then I rolled away from him and got up to get ready to fight.

"Ouch! That hurts. Nice move, Liu" my attacker said. He was Tuggsy!

"Tuggsy?! Oops, sorry I...wait...What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm looking for some carrots that I lost last week" he laughed with the sarcastic reply, although I haven't found it funny.

"The other Furious Six and Po have no conditions to help you in your training this time, Liu. So I took the liberty to choose your new training partner while we solve these problems" Master Shifu said, with a smile.

"So...you're saying that I will train with Tuggsy?!" I asked excitedly.

"Deer! Of course" he smiled.

"That's Great" I exclaimed, happy with the news.

"So, what are you waiting for? Resistance training is not over, Liu. There are still 85 laps do be done! Continue" he said.

I let a slight gasp when I thought about the effort I still have to do, but I felt a lot better and happier to know that I'd have my best friend next to me during training. I continued doing the circuit with determination and following the advice of my Master.

I noticed that Tuggsy had greatly improved his fighting skills. When we were at the orphanage, he knew nothing about kung fu, but since I became a warrior of the Jade Palace, he felt inspired and was now learning kung fu in one of Peng's schools, the nephew of Tai Lung. Apparently he was very determined.

Every lap that I was completing, Tuggsy tried to stop me in a different obstacle. I had an advantage in minefield, because he didn't know the right time to move and ended up burning a few times, but he had the advantage in the bowl, his balance was amazing. I started to get tired when I completed 30 laps.

I was sweating a lot and I started wheezing, even following the tips about how to breathe properly during training and in fights. I soon realized that I, again, wouldn't be able to complete the 100 laps. But regardless, I had to try!

Tuggsy's blows soon began to seem faster and stronger. My movements began to seem automatic, the same blows and the same sequences of movements; I decided to change them a bit to not lose focus or jump any obstacle, as before.

I completed 40 laps. I began to feel my limbs become stiff and my hands hurt after so many punches in wooden enemies. I was so wet with sweat that it looked like I had taken a bath and hadn't dried myself.

Tuggsy, although he wasn't doing the whole circuit, was already very tired. I felt I needed at least to slow down to take it to the end. With great determination, I continued with the training without stopping any time, and facing Tuggsy with all the vigor I had. But the effort was too much for me, I'd reached at my limit.

"50! *pant*...*pant* now only more...*gasp* 50!" I said to myself, resting my hand on the wooden floor, in front of the start of the circuit, as I tried to catch my breath and wiping sweat from my face. With great difficulty, I prepared to continue.

"Enough. For now that's enough, you two reached your limits and need to rest" Master Shifu said, with a smile that I didn't understand what meant.

"I...can continue, Master *pant*" I replied, although neither I believed in my words.

"I know, but for now it's enough, Liu. You've reached your limit and it is better not to try harder. After all, you know what might happen otherwise, don't you?" he said, remembering when I passed out during training.

"Yes, Master" I said bowing, almost falling forward.

"Phew! Heck, Jade. I thought you'd never stop" Tuggsy spoke as he came beside me.

"Well, Liu, how do you feel?" Master Shifu asked, still smiling.

"...Tired, y'know..." I said, giving a small laugh.

"But you still standing, right?" he continued.

It was then that I understood what he meant before. As I learn fast and my body easily accustomed to new practice, I improved my resistence in a short time. The last time I tried to complete 100 laps, I passed out before finishing the first half, and now I managed to complete 50 laps and still standing. It was a pretty big advance.

"You're right...now I understand what I said" I agreed.

"Okay. For now, let's go out get some fresh air and rest. Then we'll have lunch at the restaurant of Mr. Ping" he finished, turning around and heading towards the exit of the Training Hall. Tuggsy nudged me as we walked to the exit.

"Good work, Liu"

"Thanks, Tuggsy. You improved a lot since the last time we fought" I said.

"Thank Ya! Peng is a great teacher. But I have to admit that I am the only one who takes extra classes...or it would take too long to keep up with you, y'know" he gave a little laugh, embarrassed.

"Oh, don't think like that, buddy. You're awesome! I just have being doing kung fu longer, that's all" I replied, amiably.

"Nah! You have a gift to kung fu that few have, and it makes a big difference" he praised me. I didn't know how to answer that. My stomach growled.

"This training made me so hungry that I think could win a competition against Po to see who eats more" I joked.

"I find it hard" he replied, making us laugh.

"What will we do after lunch?" I asked.

"According to Shifu, first we'll train fight and then we repeat the workout in the circuit of the Training Hall" he said with a weary tone.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

We went to Mr. Ping's restaurant, were we had a delicious noodles and Secret Ingredient Soup for lunch, then we returned to the Jade Palace. There, Tuggsy and I had a few minutes to rest and then return to training. To our misfortune, my snow leopard friend, Tuggsy, was right. We did the same warming I did in the morning, heard some tips from our Master and started the fighting training.

Tuggsy and I trained together for a couple hours. He was considerably stronger than me, but my speed and greater training in kung fu gave me a big advantage. He was an excellent training partner, always motivated to get up, keep training and still cheer me up with a few jokes.

It was fun in a part of the training when we had to defend ourselves from attacks from each other blindfolded. Every kick and punch hit made us laugh instead of letting us angry, but Master Shifu, as always, ended the fun and we begun to take a more serious workout.

Then we had a short rest and, to my misfortune, I had to again make the circuit in the Training Hall. That training was simply tiring and exhausting. After a while, it seemed to become an agony to see all those obstacles repeated times, but I had to be strong and carry on with the training to improve my endurance in combat.

It was more or less the same result I had in the morning. Although I've followed the advice of Master Shifu, I weren't able to complete 100 laps. I finished the 50th lap and Shifu asked me to stop. I was as tired as before, but again: I finished standing.

"Enough for today. You both did very well and worked very hard. I'm happy with your progress, especially yours, Liu" he praised me, after the training was over.

"Thank you, Master" I thanked, bowing. Tuggsy also bowed, and even if Shifu had paid more attention on me, he was also happy and smiling.

"Listen, Tuggsy, did you talk to your parents?" Master Shifu asked.

"Yes, I did, Master. They said it would be an honor" he replied, bowing again.

"Er...what are you talking about?" I asked, not understanding. It was Shifu who answered.

"It's a long way between the house of your friend and the Jade Palace. Since he is going to help you with your training for a week, I asked Tuggsy to ask his parents if he could stay with us during this time" he explained. The answer made me very happy.

"Really?!" I asked, excited, still not quite believing that my best friend was staying with me at the Jade Palace for a week.

"Yep! And yes, Master, they agreed. They were very proud of me when I told them. Again, thank you for the invitation. It is an honor to be here" he thanked, a little awkwardly.

"It is an honor to have talented and dedicated youngsters like you here in the Jade Palace, Tuggsy" said Master Shifu, leaving Tuggsy a little embarrassed.

"Awesome! This is gonna be Great!" I hugged my friend, very excited about the idea that he could stay in the palace.

"Hehehe, ok, ok, Jade! I'm also very happy and all, but seriously, you just took a sweat bath..." he joked.

"Ha-ha...Oh, come on! You talk as if you were not sweaty" continued.

"Speaking of bath, I recommend you to have dinner at Mr Ping's restaurant, take a bath and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow will be another big day, and you will need your strength" Master Shifu recommended us.

"But...isn't Po going to prepare..." I was going to ask if Po wouldn't prepare the dinner, but then Shifu stared at me, reminding me of the situation of the Dragon Warrior and my friends. "Er...true, it's better not". We left the Training Hall.

"Well, you go to the restaurant of Mr Ping and come straight back up here. I'll see you tomorrow at the Training Hall after breakfast" Master Shifu told us.

"You are not you coming with us, Master?" asked Tuggsy.

"No. I should have finished and sent a letter to the Imperial Guard today, but I couldn't even finish it. Once I do that, I'm having dinner. Good night" he said and then bowed. We bowed too and said goodbye to our Master, then we went to Mr. Ping's restaurant.

It was a beautiful starry night. For a long time I didn't come to the Valley overnight, I had forgotten how much it was beautiful with it's lights on, and the quiet movement of citizens, unlike the rush during the day, made me feel happy that they all were safe and smiling.

Tuggsy and I ate delicious dumplings and some moon cakes for diner, while we talked and told things that happened recently. It was pretty nice. We said goodbye to Mr Ping and returned to the Jade Palace.

"Er...Liu, where is the place to take a bath?" Tuggsy asked. I took him to one of the bathrooms.

"Here. There is already a towel inside, leave your dirty clothes in the basket outside to the servants of the palace take it to clean. I'll take a shower and go to sleep, I believe that the others will sleep in the same room again, so you can sleep in my room" I explained.

"Er...in your room? ..." He asked, embarrassed.

"In my mother's bed! Not on mine" I replied, as if I could read his thoughts.

"Phew! So, ok...well, I just need to leave my clothes out here?" he asked, embarrassed.

"Yes, then go to my room" I said again.

I went to my room to get my pajamas and then went to the bath room. After a long and tiring day of training, there is nothing better than taking a relaxing hot bath. I even almost slept under that delicious water, but images of the 'bad' parts of my friends came to my mind, ending my peace. Would we actually manage to bring them back to normal?

I finished showering, so I dried myself and put my pajamas, a green shirt and a black shorts. As I walked out of the bathroom, I went straight to where Tuggsy was.

"Liu!...Liu, is it you?" he asked, from inside.

"Yup. What is it?"

"Er...I..."

"What is it, Tuggsy? Have they forgotten to let a towel in this bathroom?"

"No...the towel is here, but...ah, what a shame"

"Just say what's the problem..."

"Er...sorry, it's that I forgot to take my clothes...I think I left my bag in the Training Hall, can you bring it to me, please?" he asked, embarrassed.

"Of course. It'll cost just 50 Yuans" I replied.

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"Hahaha! I'm just kidding. I'll be right back"

I went to the Training Hall and found Tuggsy's bag. I opened it and found a very beautiful drawing he had made of his adoptive family, a few books, a bandana of Peng's kung fu school, a sack of coins and a pair of smelly socks "Yuck!". But no signal of his clothes. I took the bag and took it to him at the bath room.

"Have you found it?" he asked.

"Yes, but the only clothing that's in here are two old socks" I replied.

"...Darn it! That's what I feared...I got up and came running to here, I must have forgotten, but whatever. Er...sorry for asking, Liu, but...is there anything I can wear?" he asked, very embarrassed.

"Who needs clothes on a hot day like today?" I joked.

"I'm serious, Liu" he said. I couldn't contain myself, I had to laugh at that. But after I stopped a good time to think, there weren't many clothes in the palace, only my friends' clothes, but they wouldn't fit him.

"Well...er...actually...there is, but..." I guess I was as embarrassed as him when I found the only answer.

"Whatever it is...I think it'll be better than to be using the towel wrapped around my body...could you bring it, please?" he asked politely and embarrased at the same time.

"...Yes, I'll be right back..."

I went to my room and grabbed the clothes. After I returned to the bath room, I knocked on the door and streched my hand for Tuggsy to caught them. Shortly after he shut the door, he exclaimed.

"Seriously, Liu?! Isn't really there anything else?" he asked.

"It was the largest pajamas I had...and the only one which might be of your size...sorry, but there is nothing else that you can wear...*face-palm* what a shame..." I replied, embarrassed to give my clothes to a boy.

"*sigh*...Okay, thank you...but I'm only going to wear it if you don't laugh at me" he asked.

"Okay, I won't..." I replied, although I was already holding my laugh at the thought of my friend wearing girl's clothes.

I waited for him outside. I heard him muttering in the bath room, as if he was angry because he couldn't wear the clothes or something like that. After a while, he opened the door, and I could see my old friend wearing my pajamas, a white shirt with pink sleeves, which were too small for him and his navel was showing out, and a pink short, which was small and seemed to be tight. He left the bathroom looking down, waiting for my reaction.

I looked at him for a moment and then put my hand in my mouth, trying the best I could to keep from laughing.

"You said you wouldn't laugh!" he said with a serious tone, but he was too embarrassed for me to take seriously.

"...Sorry *giggle*...let's go *yawn*, it's late and all I want now is to fall asleep in my bed"

We went up to my room. I couldn't help noticing that Tuggsy was so embarrassed, that during the whole way with arms crossed and looking on all sides to ensure that he wouldn't be seen. Luckily, no one came in the way. We entered my room and each lay in one bed. I was almost asleep, exhausted with the day's activities.

"Liu...well, about this...today, y'know..." Tuggsy spoke softly, with a shy tone. I interrupted before he finished.

"Don't worry, buddy. I won't tell anyone that you wore my clothes" I said in a friendly tone.

"Phew! Thank you...*yawn*...well, good night, Liu" he thanked.

"Good night, Tuggsy" I said. And soon after, I closed my eyes and slept.


	13. Chapter 2 (part 7)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 7)**

The night was long and very quiet. It was pleasantly warm. I managed to recover my strength and getting enough rest, ready for another day of training. I woke up before the gong sounds, it was almost morning and I was really excited to start training. I got up, took a stretched in the body and let out a big yawn.

I saw that my friend was still asleep. He was curled up, lying in a fetal position with his back to me. As a matter of respect and consideration for my friend's situation I didn't laugh, but I admit that I wanted. I took my clothes, black pants, a white tank top and my sandals, then left the room, closed the door and went into the bathroom to get dressed, afraid that my friend would wake up while I dressed and also for no one see him with those clothes.

There, I washed my face, brushed my teeth and got dressed. Then I returned to wake up my friend, but I ended up finding a problem. Master Shifu! He was walking slowly down the corridor, heading toward my room. Probably he didn't want to wake my mother and others, but regardless, I couldn't let him see Tuggsy.

Quietly and trying to walk at a faster pace than his, I tried to get to him. He was about to open the door when I got close to him and leaned my hand on his shoulder.

"Master Shifu!" I whispered. He trembled with fear and let out a shriek, which scared me, but I held myself to don't do the same. He turned and saw it was me, then pulled himself together and cleared his throat to speak.

"Phew!...Liu...do not do that anymore, you scared me" he said, in a low tone.

"I see..." I said, still a little frightened by the cry he gave.

"Well...I wanted to wake you and Zhi before the others wake up. We need to have breakfast soon, or...you know" he explained.

"Zhi?" I asked.

"Tuggsy..." he replied.

"Oh, never mind" sometimes I forget that Tuggsy's name is actually Zhi Tsugumi. After so many years calling him like this, it was as if it were his name.

"Is he still sleeping?" he asked, beginning to open the door.

"NO! No, he isn't. Hehe" I exclaimed, preventing him from opening the door.

"Er...so what is the problem?" he asked, now in a more serious tone.

"Well...it's just...Er... I mean, how can you do such a thing, Master? You can't just enter in someone's room without knocking on the door first! What if he is changing clothes or something?..." I said, agitated, desperate to find an answer and said the first that came to my head.

"Ops...you are right" he knocked on the door then.

Actually I didn't want him to do that, neither that he entered the room, I just wanted Tuggsy had listened to us and tried to hide. Master Shifu hit a few times on the door but got no answer, so he opened the door suddenly. I closed my eyes, thinking he'd find Tuggsy wearing my clothes.

Luckily, Tuggsy wasn't in the room. Shifu turned to me, staring at me with a serious look, as if he thought I was hiding something, but he didn't ask me anything.

"Well, when you two are ready, come have breakfast, before the others wake up. Then we are going to start our training" he said, then left the room and went to the kitchen.

I entered the room and put my pajamas in the drawer, and suddenly heard a noise on the ceiling. I looked up and saw Tuggsy, he was clinging to the ceiling, looking like he was lying face down with arms outstretched, but...on the ceiling.

"Has he gone?" he asked, trying hard to don't fall.

"Yep! He's gone" I answered.

"Phew! That was clooose..." he said, before falling back on the wooden floor" Ouch! ".

"How did you get up there?" I asked, curious and impressed at the same time.

"In time of despair, everyone can do amazing things" he said, placing his hand on the head to relieve the pain.

"Apparently *giggle*, well, you heard Master Shifu. We gotta have breakfast and go training. It'll be another long day" I said excitedly.

"But...I need my clothes first! I wore your pajamas, but I can't wear other clothes of yours to tra..." he trailed off, as soon as Zeng entered in the room.

He was holding a basket with Tuggsy's clothes, but looked like he was paralyzed by seeing my friend wearing my clothes. Tuggsy hid behind me, very embarrassed.

"Hihihi! I did not know you had a sister, Master Liu" he sneered.

"And she Doesn't!" replied Tuggsy, brave, but too ashamed to be taken seriously. Zeng laughed even more. I walked up to him and grabbed the basket.

"Er...thanks, Zeng. Please, don't tell anyone about this, okay?!" I asked, also embarrassed.

"Hihihihihi! Do not worry! Hihi, I will not tell! Hihihihihi!" he promised, and left the room laughing.

"Damn it..." Tuggsy said softly. He was red in shame and could hardly speak.

"Don't worry. Zeng won't tell anyone" I tried to cheer him. Soon after I say that, Zeng cried out in terror.

"GOOD MORNING, ZENG!" it was my mother and the others, they woke up!

This wasn't good. Master Shifu warned us to have breakfast before our friends wake up for good reason: because they wouldn't let us have breakfast, not with all that cuteness and sweetness being exposed all the time.

Luckily, Tuggsy and I acted fast, we jumped out by my bedroom's window and went to the kitchen without going through the hallway where my friends were. Master Shifu wasn't there, but he had left our breakfast ready for us, some bread, fruits and a pitcher of orange juice. We sat and ate as fast as we could, then we went to the Training Hall.

The day was basically the same, the difference was that in the morning we didn't use the training circuit. We did the warming and started a fight training. We started slowly and calmly the fight, then it became more intense and we began to really use our skills. Tuggsy is a good partner to fight, he is skilled and always surprises during the combat, never using the same techniques, and was also the only one I could defeat. The other Furious Six and Po never let me win, and sometimes it's kind of discouraging. They say it's the best for me, to increase my skills, but I sometimes doubt about it.

After training, the three of us went to have lunch at Mr. Ping's restaurant. When we finished, we returned to the Jade Palace and continued with the training. After 3 more hours only fighting and getting some advices of our Master, we made a new list of physical exercises: 30 waist twists, 40 squats, 60 inclined twists, 40 leg lifting, 70 sit-ups, 70 pushups, 120 kicks and 220 punches. It was quite tiring.

"Phew! We did it" Tuggsy said, relieved.

"No...we haven't..." I commented, already feeling a weariness to know which was the next exercise.

"What're you talking about?" he asked.

"Apparently you already guessed it, haven't you, Jade?" Master Shifu said, with a certain happiness "Now that you have finished the exercises, you can start with the training circuit" he said.

"Oh, c'mon! Not even a little break first?" Tuggsy exclaimed.

"Well...if you want, you can wait while you do the physical exercises again. What do you think?" he said, half sarcastic.

"No no! Hehe! No need, I'll do the training circuit. Come on, Liu" he pulled me by the wrist.

Again, while I passed through all the obstacles of the Training Hall, Tuggsy tried to prevent me from continuing, fighting with me. The training was very wearing and tiring. I found it difficult to find and keep a good pace. At times I wanted to go faster and finish with that as soon as possible, and in others I wanted to stop for breathing, but I knew I couldn't. But this time, I've done 50 laps and Master Shifu didn't ask me to stop, so I continued, hoping to achieve 100 laps.

Obviously, I couldn't do it. I completed 65 laps and was exhausted, barely able to stand up, but I didn't faint or anything like this. Then he asked us to stop, and said that tomorrow we would continue with the training. We went to have dinner at Mr. Ping again, but before we returned to the Jade Palace, Tuggsy said he would go to his home and take some extra clothes first.

I went up to the Jade Palace alone, then I'd take a bath and go to sleep, I was too tired to wait for my friend to arrive and then sleep. He doesn't need my help to sleep, I thought with myself. But before that, I went to Master Shifu's room to say good night; when I got there, a tall rhinoceros wearing an armor with the imperial symbol, a great blue dragon, was talking to him.

"Master Shifu, the Emperor recognizes the problem, and that it is not the fault or the Furious Five nor the Dragon Warrior's, for the problems caused by...their 'bad' parts" he said with a serious tone.

"Thank you, General" he thanked, bowing.

"BUT...he asked me to make it clear that all the damage caused by them, shall be paid by the Jade Palace" he continued.

"I understand. Well...have you found them? Do you know if they have done something?" Master Shifu asked, concerned.

"Yes. We sent two troops to catch them today, each with 20 soldiers. They were found stealing an iron mine and a town nearby here"

"They were not captured, were?" he asked, with his head down, already knowing the answer.

"Unfortunately not. Both troops were defeated without problems, and the soldiers are with serious injuries, but they will survive. But the iron mine and the city...no iron, and the citizens had their metals stolen" he notified.

"*sigh*...and it seems that this is not the end. If Taotie is stealing metals as well, it's because he's building something. I just hope he is not trying to do what Lord Shen almost succeeded"

"I doubt. But thank you for the information, it can help us in some way. I need to go now. Good night" he said goodbye and both bowed.

That shook me too much for me to get into the room and say goodnight. I couldn't imagine my mother and the others doing something like that, even though those weren't them, it was still disturbing. I knew I wouldn't sleep with that in mind, my friends and my mother attacked the imperial guard, and the worst was that I knew that now more troops would be sent to capture them; and if the situation got out of hand, both could end up dying.

I couldn't sleep, although very tired and sleepy. I left my room and went to the outside of the palace, in front of the stairs, to see if I could forget all that stuff. It was a warm night, the stars and the moon shone in the sky, and the pleasant aroma of the nature was comforting, but only that wasn't going to help me to feel better.

From time to time, when I was sleepless, I came here and went up on the roof of the palace, to stare at the sky and the horizon. It was a beautiful view of the Valley, the bamboo forest, the mountains far away from me; it brought me peace to look at everything down there. Brought me memories of my past, when I had promised that one day I would be where I am today. I remember that I made my dreams always makes me happy, but for some reason, I still couldn't forget nor stop worrying about my mother and my friends.

"Liu?" a voice sounded below me on the steps.

"Oh...hi, Tuggsy...you came back" I said, and soon after he climbed on the roof and sat beside me.

"Yep!...What happened?" he asked amiably.

"How do you know that something happened?"

"Well...at the Bao Gu Orphanage you used to isolate yourself from everyone when you were sad. We are both exhausted after today's workout *sniff-sniff*, and you haven't even showered" he said, wrinkling his nose.

"What does this have to do?" I asked, half embarassed and curious.

"You are obsessed with personal hygiene since I know you. You'd take 5 baths a day if they let you, hehehe! But anyway, you gonna tell me or not?" he continued, trying to cheer me up.

I told him I'd seen Master Shifu and the general of the Imperial Guard talking, and what Po, my mother and the others had done. He got as shocked as I was at first, but it didn't take long for him to conform to the situation.

"I know that actually those weren't them...but it bothers me to know that they can end up dying...and Master Shifu haven't told me how he is going to bring them to normal..." I blurted.

"Well, if you know that those weren't our friends, then there is no reason to be bothered, Jade. Po and the others...die?! Don't be silly! Don't you think you're underestimating them?" he replied.

"Okay, you're right about it...but what about all the ones they will end up hurting?" I continued, still not finding that answer enough to calm me down.

"Now you're underestimating the Imperial Guard. C'mon! They never fail...at least most of the times...by the way, protecting China and looking after everyone is what they do best. They only lost because the fought Po and the others, and morever, they have to order just Arrest them. Do you really think they will disobey the Emperor?"

"Well...I guess you're right...let's go, it's going to be another big day tomorrow. Thank you so much, Tuggsy" I thanked, then jumped off the roof.

"Aaah!...Ouch! You're welcome, Liu" he fell flat on his face, then followed me into the room.

We walked as slowly as possible down the hall, not to wake our friends. If the 'good' parts of them woke up, we would be in trouble. The wooden floor creaked loudly with each step we took, and it seemed like that the slower the higher it creaked. As I opened the door to my room, we heard them snoring louder, but luckily they haven't woken up.

"Phew! What a luck...for a moment I thought our buddies were waking up" Tuggsy whispered.

"Have you said...Buddies?!" said Monkey with a frienly voice and a psycho smile on his face, as he hung on the roof by the tail.

"Buddies!" the others exclaimed.

"Oh no..." Tuggsy and I said together.

Before we could do something, Po, my mother and the others grabbed us and gave us a big hug, then forced us to go to sleep with them. In the same room from before, they said good night several times, hugged, got close to one another and then slept.

Po was hugging me, sleeping on the floor with belly up, while I was lying on his belly, going up and down as he breathed and snored. Tuggsy was lying in the bed, but I'd say he was much more uncomfortable than I, since Viper was wrapped around his neck and Mantis was asleep on top of his belly, poking him with his sharp little arm/thing.

"Just to remember, this is Your fault..." I whispered.

"Oh, c'mon! It isn't my fault that they woke up with the magic word...and you don't have to remember me of this, I'm not in the best of the conditions too..." he muttered, whispering.

"Well...if we're lucky, we'll wake up before them. Then we'll manage to free ourselves... and then I'll take Two baths, since I couldn't do it, tonight" I complained.

"Aff, enough of all this drama *yawn* no one dies for lack of bath"

"Speak for yourself. You say you'd taken a bath, but I don't believe it that much. You're still stinking!"

"But I did took a bath" he defended himself.

Soon after he said that, Po let out a fart that echoed in the halls of the palace, then returned to snore. The air got a horrible smell of rotten eggs, Tuggsy and I had to cover our noses.

"Yuck! That's disgusting, Po!" I exclaimed.

Tuggsy laughed at me and the situation, but stopped as soon as Viper tightened his neck tightly, as if she was hugging him. Tuggsy managed to loosen from her and then coughed several times. Now it was I who was laughing at him.

"*gasp* well...we gotta sleep...at least I won't wake up with stiff neck" he said, looking at Crane, who was with his neck stretched forward, and Monkey was sleeping on it like a bed.

We both laughed, then said good night and almost fainted by how sleepy we were now.

Nothing much different happened the next day. We woke up early, way before our 'buddies', I took a long, relaxing bath; we had a delicious breakfast and we went to train. It was a little colder than the previous day. We started the workout with a few minutes doing tai chi, then did the same list of exercises from before, but with more repetitions than yesterday. Then me and Tuggsy trained our fighting skills, but this time with Master Shifu, one at a time. Obviously, we didn't even come close to defeat him, but it was fun.

After having lunch at Mr. Ping's restaurant, we returned to the palace and repeat the same list of exercises we've done in the morning. Once finished, we went to the training circuit. I completed 75 laps and was exhausted, so Master Shifu asked us to stop. We had a rest of about an hour and then Tuggsy and I trained fighting, again, until it was time to have dinner. After a delicious bowl of Secret Ingredient Soup and a few laughs with Tuggsy getting drowned with his own soup, after Master Shifu said he had been 'the Crane of the group' when he was a member of the ancient Furious Five; we went back to the palace, took a bath and we went to sleep.

It was a restless night. I dreamed I was struggling with a enemy, who was much stronger than me, he was big, strong and fast, but I could only see it's shadow, and feel each of it's painful blows, until at one point he knocked me down, he took a sword and stuck it in me. I woke up, scared, looking around me to realize that it had been just a nightmare.

I tried to go back to sleep, but soon after, I heard slow footsteps in the corridor, making the wooden floor creak and echo through the rooms, but soon stopped. I assumed it was one of the other Furious Six or Po. I closed my eyes for a little while, until I heard weird noises in the room beside me, as if someone was there.

I was very tired, so I tried to go back to sleep, but the sound continued. I stopped to pay more attention to the sounds, and heard voices.

"*moan*...Oh, my God..." a female voice said. "This is so good...*groan* don't stop..."

I found that quite strange. The voice sounded familiar, but couldn't remember who it was. I got up from my bed and went slowly into the hall. She kept letting out little moans, I didn't know if those were of pain, agony or something else.

"Shh...you'll wake the others if you keep like that" whispered a male voice. The same female voice of before laughed at the comment, then returned to moan.

I got a little scared of entering the room, but I had to know if they weren't thieves or something like this. I took a deep breath, prepared to fight if they were enemies and opened the door quickly. I was surprised to come across with that.

"You..." I exclaimed.

"Oh, er...Hi, Liu" Koshi said with an embarrassed tone, as he saw me.

"Good evening, Liu...er, sorry, did we wake you?" Leona asked, politely. She was sitting in one of the room's beds, and Koshi was massaging her foot, then stopped and stood up to continue the conversation.

"I...er...well, I thought...never mind. And actually no, I was already awake, and when I heard the footsteps and noises...I thought I'd better check who it was, y'know" I explained, quietly, to don't wake Po and the others.

"Well, we had business to attend to...in some places" Leona said with a coquettish voice, embracing Koshi, then she changed the tone and continued, "but now that we've done it, we came back here. I heard that you are training for that event" Leona said.

"So we thought maybe we could help, since the others are...you know" Koshi continued.

"Yes, *yawn* tomorrow we'll continue with the training. It'll be Great to have you both here" I said cheerfully, now the training was going to be even more fun "But just to let you know, we need to wake up before them" I completed, pointing to the room where our friends were.

"Understood" Leona winked.

"Very well. G'night, Liu" Koshi smiled.

"Good night to you two" I said, then left the room and went back to my.

"We're not done yet...left foot wants a massage as well..." Leona whispered to Koshi.

The next morning, the four of us had breakfast and went to the stairs of the palace. This time, the warming was to go up and down those huge staircases 10 times, running. Thereafter, we trained fighting in pairs, alternating the duo every 30 minutes. I felt much more tired than in the previous days, Koshi and Leona were much stronger than me and Tuggsy, and also much more skillful. To try to win, we'd to struggle a lot. We won just a few times, but I gotta admit that things were getting much more interesting and fun.

This time, we managed to have lunch at the Jade Palace, my mother, Po and the others had gone for a picnic along with Zeng, in the woods near the Valley of Peace.

Those delicious bean buns, warm and soft, helped me to restore my energy and I was ready to continue with the training. After half a hour for break, we returned to the Training Hall, where we did tai chi and that same list of exercises, but with more repetitions.

Then we begin with the training circuit. It was much harder than I thought, it must have been the hardest workout I've ever had, after all, Koshi and Leona also fought with me while I was doing the circuit. With much effort, I managed to complete 70 laps, completely exhausted at the end of training, I couldn't even stand up after that.

It was already night, and Master Shifu ended the day's workout. We all took a bath, then we had dinner, a delicious vegetable soup. Luckily, I'd managed to finish eating before Po and the others arrive. He had a carrot stuck in his nose, and was grimacing to make us laugh, obviously we couldn't eat after that.

The next day, morning and evening training was basically the same. What has changed is that this time I managed to complete 80 laps in the training circuit.

That night, the General of the Imperial Guard came to the palace. He told us that the 'bad' parts of our friends had attacked again during the days that had passed, and again, many soldiers were injured after trying to stop them. There was also no idea where Taotie was, neither what he was planning. but then the General made a comment that scared us.

"And there's one thing I must tell you: they do not bleed!"

"What?!" we exclaimed.

"That's it. My soldiers attacked them with swords, spears and even arrows, but nothing could stop them. I was there, I tried to hit the Dragon Warrior with my sword, but he blocked with his arm and the blade broke in half. And it's not just that, they seemed to get stronger each time they were struck" he added.

"But...how?" Tuggsy asked.

"There must be an explanation for that" I said to myself.

"This is not normal!" I heard Koshi say to Leona.

"Nobody knows how this is possible, neither where Taotie is nor what his plans are" the General said "And I also came here today to say that the Imperial Guard will no longer seek them" he told left, making us all scared .

"Y-you won't? But..." Master Shifu was going to protest, but was interrupted by the General.

"With all due respect, Master Shifu, my soldiers are afraid of what happened. The wounded ones are more than 100, not counting the innocent citizens. They are all thinking that they are monsters! So...I and the Emperor decided that it is unnecessary for more soldiers and citizens of China to get hurt or worse"

"But...what'll be done to save them from those things? We can't just pretend they aren't there!" I protested.

"The Imperial Guard will reinforce security in the villages and cities...but the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five are now responsibility of the Jade Palace" he said firmly.

After talking a little longer, he said goodbye and left. Me and others still didn't know how to react that, but one thing was certain: we had to find them, and soon!

The next day, I was kind crestfallen because of what the General had told us, but I trained harder because of it. Now that the responsibility was ours, I had to improve my skills even more, in order to fulfill my duty. We train only fight this time, all day, and Master Shifu also fought. Later in that day, Master Shifu took us to the Hall of Warriors, in front of the Moon Pool, then closed the doors, placed candles around us to have a little lighting and began to play a beautiful music with his flute.

We meditate for hours. I didn't even notice the time passing, it was night when we open our eyes. But the surprising thing wasn't the time that has passed, but that I was no longer feeling any effects of my training. Train hard consecutive days is tiring and painful, the pain from training continue for days, but I was feeling nothing now, as if I hadn't trained at all.

I woke up with great enthusiasm in the morning, knowing what I was going to train: sword! I took a bath, got dressed and took my two katanas, one of the gifts that I keep with more affection, which was in my trunk at the foot of the bed. I'd breakfast with the others and went to the Training Hall.

Master Shifu said for us to do that training list again and then asked the others to help me with my training with the sword. Leona helped me a lot, she's very skilled with swords and other blades, I managed to learn several things with her. I spent all day training with those katanas, from fruit hit in the air to fight with Tuggsy, Koshi and Leona. It was pretty cool!

And now it was the final stretch, my last day of training before the fight with Hina. I had to give my best! Master Shifu woke me earlier that day, he said he wanted to talk to me in private.


	14. Chapter 2 (part 8)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 8)**

He took me to the palace staircases, and stared at the rising of the sun for a while. Then, he reminded me of Tai Lung's story, and the day my friends found out that he had escaped from prison. My mother, Tigress, hadn't accepted Po's destiny yet, and thought that she should be the Dragon Warrior and not him, then she sneaked out from the palace to go face the enemy alone.

Fortunately neither she nor our friends have died, but Shifu didn't want to just tell me that. He also made me promise that I wouldn't make the same mistake my mom did, and wait for the right moment to act, along with my friends. I understood and promised I wouldn't do the same as my her.

After that, we went to the kitchen, where Tuggsy, Koshi and Leona were already having breakfast. Once we all had finished, I went to change clothes, put my green jade shirt, my black trousers and sandals. I took a deep breath, when I realized that today would be a day even bigger than the previous ones, and ran to the Training Hall.

This time, the training was more focused on me. Only I made the list of exercises, the biggest that I did in these recent days: 360 waist twists, 100 squats, 200 inclined twists, 100 leg lifting, 600 sit-ups, 600 pushups, 2000 kicks and 5000 punches. The training exhausted my energies almost completely.

I'd a half hour break and then came back to train. We left the Training Hall and went to The Palace Arena, were Master Shifu asked us to train fighting, but this time it was me against my three friends. First Tuggsy, who attacked me with several different strokes, which was a great challenge to keep a pattern and rhythm during combat against the snow leopard. Then came Koshi, the black wolf attacked me in a similar way to Tuggsy's, but with much more speed and agility, I was most of the time defending myself, and when I tried to attack him, he dodged.

Finally, I faced Leona. The lioness was skilled, very quick and had a similar strength to my mother. Each stroke seemed to be an endurance test. I managed to hit her a few strokes, but she retaliated all, and obviously I didn't win a single fight.

Then, Master Shifu said: "Now, all of you against Liu" It made my legs shake. Seriously?!

I had to push myself very hard to keep myself standing. It was a restless fight, even when they attacked one at a time. The breathing technique in combat that Master Shifu taught wasn't enough for me to keep a good pace. The problem of training with other kung fu masters, is that when they try to hold themselves, they 'only' cause you large bruises, and today was a day of intensive training!

I was relieved when the workout was over. I almost couldn't stand on my feet. I fell on my back and stared at the sky, blue and cloudless. Tuggsy approached.

"*Gasp*...Phew! It's over...you okay?"

"*Gasp-gasp*...I think so...breaking some bones doesn't hurt at all...neither is tiring" I replied sarcastically. He reached out to help me up.

"You were great, Jade" Koshi praised me.

"Truth! You improved a lot in such a short time" Leona said then.

"Thanks, guys *gasp*...without you I wouldn't have gone this far" I thanked.

"It was so far that you haven't even gone anywhere" Tuggsy teased.

"Ha-ha! Very funny...I'd even laugh at the joke and punch you...if I'd the strength for it" said, supporting myself on my knees to keep from falling with exhaustion.

"And I just don't punch you...because I would take a beating" Tuggsy joked, making all of us laugh.

We had lunch, a delicious pasta with vegetables, which made me feel all my energy back. Then, instead of going to the Training Hall, Shifu took us back to the Moon Pool in the Hall of Warriors, to do that meditation again.

When we're done, I felt like the last time, without pain, in a good will and full of energy. Then we headed to the Training Hall, it was time, we'd do the training circuit, and this time I Had to complete 100 laps!

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to concentrate. I inspired deeply with my nose and slowly exhaled air through the mouth. I opened my eyes slowly and I fixed my gaze on the Training Hall's end, my goal. When Master Shifu gave me the signal to start, I ran towards the obstacles.

Using everything I have learned in recent days, from the way of breathing to the fighting techniques, I went through all the training circuit obstacles, mats and wood with thorns swinging from one side to the other, the bowl, the wooden enemies and the minefield. Tuggsy, Koshi and Leona were my opponents, alternating in which of the obstacles they'd be as the training went.

I completed the first 50 laps without problem, then Master Shifu gave me my katana to use it against obstacles in the remaining laps, and to fight against my friends, who were also armed. Tuggsy had a staff, Koshi had a long two-handed and two edged sword, and Leona had a one-handed and single edged sword.

Hours passed, until I finally completed 99 laps. I was exhausted and in pain throughout the body, but my sight didn't blurr like the first time, and I wasn't even close to passing out. Just like me, the others were already pretty tired, and we were sweating so much that Tuggsy slipped on his own sweat sprawled on the floor.

I just needed to complete one more lap! I jumped and did spins in the minefield while fighting Koshi, made the sequence of blows in all wooden enemies, fought Tuggsy balancing myself in the edges of the bowl, and finally, fought Leona as I ran on the treadmills and dodged from the woods with thorns. I jumped out of the treadmills, throwing myself with the belly on the wooden floor at the beginning of the Training Hall, I had finished the training and completed the 100 laps!

I was exhausted and powerless, but I figured it out better when I stopped moving. My joints ached and I was totally breathless. I hardly hear my friends congratulating me.

"Nice work, Liu! You did it!" exclaimed Tuggsy, excited.

"That's the Jade I know!" Koshi said then.

"Yep! Strength and determination, no one could have done better" Leona said, smiling.

"I am very proud of you, Liu! Honestly, I did not expect that in a week you were..." I interrupted my master.

"...No! *gasp-gasp*..." everyone stared at me in amazement "*gasp-gasp-gasp*...don't say anything yet..." I said, and after doing a lot of strength, I stood up "*gasp*...Now, that I finished the workout and...I'm still standing, you can congratulate me" I joked. They all smiled at me.

After an hour of rest, Master Shifu let me have a snack before we continue with the training, which was very well suggested idea, I was starving! After some bean buns' bowls, we went to the Palace Arena, to continue training my skills with the sword. The day was long and tiring, and we only stopped when the moon was shining in the sky.

In the end of the day, all we took a bath, changed clothes, did that meditation again and went to have dinner at Mr. Ping's Restaurant. We returned to the palace and I had barely arrived in my room and I fell on my bed without wearing my pajamas to sleep.

It was a pleasantly cool and relaxing evening, I managed to recover all my strength and energy. This time I could sleep a little longer, and only woke up when the gong sounded. Today was the day! I got my special suit, which was a gift from Tuggsy, an all black outfit: shirt with hood, trousers, sandals which covered the toes and climbed almost to the knees, elbow pads, knee pads, and on the front of the shirt I could carry 6 throwing knives.

Then I went to have breakfast with Tuggsy, Koshi and Leona. Once we finished, I went to get one of my katanas in order to attend the event. The others said they'd wait for me in the palace's staircase, but I still had one more thing I needed to do before we left. I went to the dungeons of the palace, walked up to one of the relics' rooms and opened a drawer.

"Liu? What are you doing here?" it was Tuggsy. He surprised me, but I wasn't hiding anything.

"Hi, Tuggsy. *sigh*...y'know what we'll do after the event, right?" I replied calmly.

"After the event?"

"Shifu will send us on a mission to capture Po and the others...but the truth is that we have no chance of winning..." I continued.

"How can you be so sure of that? I mean, 'course, they're the greatest warriors of all China, and such..." I interrupted.

"Don't you know?...Shifu once told me that my mother had gotten into depression...it was shortly after Po had become the Dragon Warrior and defeated Tai Lung. She realized that Po was able to do many amazing things, and didn't need to try that hard for it, and she had needed years of training to achieve those same things, and even lost at all kung fu stuff for the panda. She felt useless and went days away from the palace. Until one day, she came back determined to show that she wasn't inferior to him. Do you remember the training we did yesterday: the list of exercises and the 100 laps in the training circuit?"

"Don't even remind me...why do you ask?"

"The list and the circuit were just her warming for her training during the morning" when I said that, Tuggsy was flabbergasted.

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed.

"And that's not all. After she finished the warming, she just ate some tofu cubes, drank a glass of water and began training. She stayed for Three Days without stop training! Not even to sleep. And when the others tried to stop her, well...let's say they've regretted doing it"

"B-but...this is insane! How did she do that?"

"No one can explain. We only know a few things from that day: one is that she destroyed a lot of equipments just to train, another is that she broke the record of the Training Hall and she is the only one who knows how many laps she completed, not to mention that no other Master have overcome it, not even Tai Lung had done that. And she almost died after she finished, when she Fainted, because of a flame of the minefield that hit her in the face" I told.

"Wow...amazing..." he said.

"See?! And I just told you about two of the ones we'll face, but Po and my mother won't be alone!"

"You're right...but, c'mon Liu! We are also good warriors, and we got Shifu, Koshi and Leona on our side! And maybe even those two foreigners gonna help us" he said, a little nervous with my comment.

"It may be so, but what if something goes wrong? Those 'bad parts' aren't normal! Po and the others are awesome warriors, and let's admit that they are Too dangerous, now. I don't know how we'll win this fight, not even If we gonna win" I continued, with the same worried tone.

"...Well...I admit that I'm also scared. But what exactly you want to do?" he asked, now more serious.

"Some time ago, I found out that I can do a legendary kung fu technique, very rare and dangerous, called The Flaming Heart of the Hero. It was thanks to it that I could defeat that big gorilla called Hiroito Li...the problem is that I don't know how to use the technique, but one thing I know: it appeared in one of the moments which I felt more anger in my life" I explained.

At that moment, Tuggsy froze as he noticed what I was holding in my hand, the Gong Lu Medallion.

"No...you're not thinking about..." I interrupted him.

"I'm not just thinking about it, that's also exactly what I'll do!"

"Are you mad? This thing...it gives to the one who wears it a greater power, b-but it's dangerous! It'll make your evil side dominate the good one! "He exclaimed.

"Exactly. I need the bad side to win this battle"

"No! Peng nearly killed Po and the others when he wore it! Neither He managed to control himself because of the medallion's power! You may end up doing what he almost did! What about if your bad side dominate you, and you end up using this flaming heart technique, thing?!" he exclaimed, desperate to try to convince me to give up wearing the medallion.

"You don't understand, do you?...Tuggsy, this battle may end tragically, and my friends are the ones who will fight both by my side and against me. My friends are like family to me! I've failed my mother, Po and the others once, but I won't fail with you guys. I can't!...If things get out of hand, I'll wear the medallion" I said.

As soon as me, Tuggsy, Koshi, Leona and Master Shifu were ready, we went to the event. The time has come! I'd finally have my rematch with Hina Hiroki, the reindeer apprentice of the great samurai Tamotso Utin.

The day was pleasantly warm, and the wind went smoothly inside the great place that looked like a gladiatorial arena. This time, there weren't so many people in the registration queue as before, after all, today was the day of the fights, and all citizens of the city of Jinzhou wanted to watch. The audience was packed and everyone was looking forward to what was to come.

I saw by far the two foreigners. Tamotso Utin and Hina were sat, meditating in the middle of the fighting area, where the damage Hina and I have caused were still visible, like the cut pillars, which were used some ropes to put back in place. Both were wearing a yoroi, the samurai armor. When me and others walked toward them, the audience looked on in amazement; Hina and Tamotso Utin opened their eyes and came to greet us then.

"Hello. Welcome, again. We were waiting you" Tamotso Utin greeted us. Me and others bowed and they bowed then.

"Hi! Wow...look...almost the whole city came to watch the fights. It'll be a great day for you, isn't it?" I said excitedly, while I looked at the hundreds of citizens who were in the audience, plus the registration queues. Hina was the one who answered me.

"Actually, Liu Zhang, event is almost over"

"But...it's still early, right? It isn't even lunchtime yet...and just look how many participants are still waiting" I asked, not understanding that. It was the great samurai who answered me.

"More than half of those in the audience have attended the event already. And those lines...well, not everyone found defeat just and are asking for the money back"

That worried me. There were many participants, and Tamotso Utin defeated them too fast! How was that possible? Well...now it wasn't the time to be afraid, neither to lose focus. I'd fight Hina soon, and I didn't want all my effort to be wasted.

"Wow! You guys could have gone a little slower...not everyone is a super samurai, y'know" Tuggsy joked.

"Yeah. *sigh* And I thought we were going to watch some fights today" said Koshi, a little disappointed. It was the great samurai who answered.

"Hehehe! I even would go slowly, but have not had the chance. Hina has not let me fight yet" he said, proud of his disciple. For a moment me and the others were quiet, not knowing what to say, because of our surprise to know that.

We already knew that only those who defeated Hina could try to fight Tamotso Utin. If only Hina had fought so far, that meant she had defeated all that crowd in the audience and many other participants, and she didn't show the slightest sign of fatigue.

"Hello, Liu-san. Glad you come. I am looking forward to be able to fight with you again" Hina greeted me. I was still a little tense with the struggle, and began to wonder if my training with katana would be enough to defeat her.

"H-hi! Hehe, I'm also...looking forward" I replied, half insecure.

So we went to the middle of the arena and Tamotso Utin explained the rules. Then he gave me a wooden katana, those used to train. That was a problem for me, I hadn't trained much with the sword, and the little I've trained was with My katana. I was used to it's weight and other factors, I surely would lose the fight if I used that thing. But I didn't complain, just walked away from them and started training a few strokes and cuts.

They founf it weard, especially by noticing that I couldn't handle well the wooden katana. Shifu was the first to say something.

"Er...Liu, is everything okay?"

"Yes, Master...I'm just trying to get used to this thing" I said, still practicing some moves.

"But isn't it the same thing?...Well of course not, I mean, you can use it as good as your own sword, can't you?" asked Tuggsy, who seemed to be the most confused.

"Well, there's only one way to know..." I replied, with a smile.

"How?!" he asked curiously. Soon after, I hit him with the sword's side in the head "Ouch!"

"Yep! I think I can handle it" I answered, laughing with my friends.

"Hey!" exclaimed Tuggsy.

The audience was very silent when Hina and I were facing each other in the arena. The young reindeer staring at me seriously without even blinking, and I did the same while the fight didn't start. Master Shifu and Tamotso Utin were on the sides of the arena, to evaluate the fight's score while Tuggsy, Koshi and Leona went to the audience, they were cheering for me.

I felt my muscles tense and a great anxiety came over me. The time has come! I'd finally have my revenge, and a fair fight. I remembered the breathing technique that Shifu taught me, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath three times, until I could hear every heartbeat of mine. My concentration was broken by the voice of Hina, who was at two meters from me and pointing her wooden katana in my direction.

"You trained much, Liu-san?" she asked in a soft voice but firm at the same time.

"Yes, you have no idea of how much I did"

"So tell me: how much you trained just for today?" she continued.

"Just for today?...Nothing" I replied. She stared at me firmly after my answer, then I continued "Although you also have inspired me to train harder, I didn't train just for today. I've trained for something much bigger and important"

"So this will great fight be from start to the end. Because I also fight for something big" she replied, then smiled.

"That's what I wanted to hear" I replied.

"Good luck, Liu-san"

"Good luck, Hina Hiroki"

So we both got in our fighting positions, held the sword firmly, fixed our eyes and await the beginning of the combat. The audience seemed not to breathe, they were as eager as us. Until Tamotso Utin spoke.

"Just remembering, this fight is won by score. The one who does 10 points first wins the match"

"Make a clean fight and give give best" continued Master Shifu.

"Begin!" they ordered together.

The audience screamed in excitement with the announcement of the start of the fight, but lasted just a while. Hina and I didn't move out of the place, we were waiting for the other to make the first attack. We continue to face each other for a few seconds, then walked in circle until we come full circle. At the same time, we tightened our eyes, we firmed our feet on the ground...and ran toward each other. The fight had begun!

I aimed a side cut on her shoulder, but she blocked my attack, then she tried to push me backwards with a strength that clearly didn't belong to a child at her age. I strained to keep from falling and then threw my sword to the side, opening Hina's guard. It was my chance to hit her. The problem is that she was faster than me, and was going to hit me a cut in the belly. I took a quick leap backwards, but it was late, I felt the tip of the wooden sword pull over on my stomach.

I had to do a somersault to avoid falling. I got up and prepared to go on the attack, but stopped as soon as I heard:

"Three points!" said Tamotso Utin.

"Whoa, whoa! What?! 3? She just hit my stomach!" I complained, indignantly. Was the great samurai lying for his disciple win?

"Liu! Look down" Master Shifu shouted by one side of the arena. I obeyed and saw the unexpected: my pants were soiled with a big risk of brown paint on both legs, and then I saw that there was another risk in my belly "She really hit you three times" he said with a serious tone. Tamotso Utin continued.

"Yes, little one. These swords have a resin in the cutting part, that when touches the skin or clothing leaves a mark to show if whether or not touched the opponent. Thus, there is no way to cheat..."

"Oops...hehe! Sorry" I apologized and then turned to my fighting stance, leaving my right leg behind the body and with both hands holding the sword in front of the body at the navel's hight.

It really was an interesting idea for the tournament, so there was no excuse that ' it haven't touched'. But one thing still bothered me: Hina hit me three times, but I just saw her move the sword once, when she made the cut on my stomach. She was even faster than before. She had the advantage of knowing how to handle the wooden sword and was considerably faster and more skilled than me. I needed a strategy, and fast.

But I didn't have much time, as soon as I got into position to fight, Tamotso Utin ordered the fight to continue. Hina ran towards me fiercely, trying to stick the wooden sword in my belly. I swerved to the side, then tried to hit her with a cut in the neck, but she bent down, gave me sweep and jumped in the air, to then try to stick her sword on my chest.

I turned my body to the side and she missed it, but then punched me in my right eye, leaving me dizzy, then put her sword on my neck. Tamotso Utin said that was a point, then Hina walked away from me slowly. I shook my head and stood up. Although that wasn't against the rules, it made me very angry. I got into a position to fight again and the great samurai told us to continue.

This time it was me who went to the attack. I aimed several attacks on her, some at the chest and stomach, and others at the legs, but Hina blocked all with simple and agile movements of her wooden katana. The audience cheered with all that action. After several attacks, Hina fought back, and I started to defend myself. But I couldn't defend myself as well as she did, and after a few strokes she managed to open my guard and hit two cuts, one at my chest and other at the belly.

Tamotso Utin scored the points and continue the fight. It was frustrating, no matter how hard I tried, it seemed impossible to hit her. There had to be somewhere that I could hit her! And it was after Hina attacked me again that I remembered from our previous fight: I could fool her by using blind spots, so maybe I'd have a chance to score points.

Amid several attacks from the little reindeer of 8 years old, I managed to make her slow down and made an attempt: I left one of my hands from the wooden katana, stretched my fingers and passed it in front of the eyes of Hina. She unwittingly diverted her look from the combat to follow the movement of my hand, so I took the chance to do a whirl on the spot and give a kick in the belly of Hina, throwing her away from me. It worked! Now I knew a way to defeat her.

She came running to attack me again. To fool her, I threw my left arm to the side, passing my hand next to her face, and she ended up again looking away. Then I managed to hit a cut on her belly, then I crouched. Hina was running and when I hit a blow on her, she lurched and stumbled on me, and ended up doing a somersault over me and falling flat on hre back. The public vibrated with my done.

Master Shifu scored my first point. Once Hina rose and they gave us the signal to move on, I ran toward her, I wanted to continue with the same strategy. But when I got close to her and ran my hand in front of her eyes, she grabbed my wrist with one hand and elbowed me in the stomach, then hit two cuts on my right leg and stomach, and gave me a kick in the chest that threw me away from her.

"The same trick is you can not do more than once against a samurai warrior, Liu-san! Will have to change strategy if you want to win fight" she said when I got up.

That made me really angry. But she was right somehow, I had to change my plan of attack. It was then that I noticed one thing: Hina was getting out of breath. She stared at me steadily, but couldn't hide that she was getting tired. It was then that I realized with satisfaction that I finally would have an advantage in the fight, it wasn't me who couldn't stand to fight for long anymore.

They ordered us to return to fight. This time I just needed to focus. I went to attack Hina, but after trying three attacks I came backwards, and the reindeer didn't notice that now it was her who was attacking me. I took a defensive position, just dodging and blocking her attacks, going backwards if necessary.

It was risky, because she knew how to break my defense with ease. If I wasn't careful, Hina would take the chance and score the last two points, defeating me and embarrassing me in front of everyone. For a long time it worked, she got tired quickly, after so many quick and repetitive strokes. I felt sweat running down my forehead, almost blurring my vision, but Hina was sweating even more than I, and soon began to slow down.

Wood slivers were leaving from our training katanas every time they touched. The audience screamed in excitement with every second that passed, they thought the fight was getting spectacular, and my friends cheered for me in the audience.

When I was confident that I could attack Hina, and saw that her rate of blows was going down, I went to the attack suddenly, taking her by surprise. I managed to open her guard and hit two cuts in her belly. After that, I stopped and waited for her to attack me again. She tried to hit me with a vertical cut from the bottom up, but it was slow, so I just moved to the side and made a lateral cut, stopping before hitting her on the neck.

Master Shifu scored my point. Hina stood still for a moment, as if she couldn't understanding what was happening. She pulled away with a glare, and as soon as the fight to continued, she attacked me with a incredible speed, much faster than the other times. For some reason I didn't know, I could follow every move and defend myself accurately. Hina was using too much strength to apply the attacks, but got even more tired with this, and then I managed to hit a cut on her, that struck her two thighs. Master Shifu scored the points and continue the fighting.

She seemed to be very angry with my score, and started pushing me back, with quick and hard blows to block, until I hit my back at one of the wooden pillars that surrounded the fighting area. Hina ran towards me and I tried to hit a horizontal cut on her belly, but she slid on her knees and went under my legs. I tried to turn around to hit her back, but incredibly she was so quick that she managed use the wooden pillar as support to jump over me before I could hit her, and tried to hit a cut on my back.

For a few centimeters she didn't score another point, but something strange happened: I felt as if something very sharp had scratched my back. How was it possible? Somehow, Hina could use that technique even with a wooden sword! But the worst part is that probably she didn't know that. Shifu told me one day that the technique of these two foreigners could become just a normal thing for them during a match, and they could do it in any movement with the sword.

Now things were getting dangerous, because now Hina's training katana was as dangerous as a real one! She kept attacking me, until we hit a sword against another, stopping both attacks, then Hina made a quick spin, hitting the side of her wooden katana on my right ear. I fell sideways on the ground. It hurt a lot and I was now hearing a terrible ringing inside the ear.

"LIU!" my friends and Master Shifu exclaimed, worried. I put a hand to the ear, worried, but it wasn't cut or something like that. But as the great samurai announced the news, my concern has changed.

"Point! Hina Hiroki made 9 points. If she makes one more, she will be the winner!" he said, loud enough so that everyone who was in the audience could hear him.

"Liu! You made 6 points so far. It's now or never!" Master Shifu warned me.

That was bad. What now? I needed to do 4 points, and it'd be impossible to do this without Hina score her last point. The audience roared with excitement, but my friends were as tense as me. It was time to react, take things much more seriously and concentrate in the fight.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I had to cut myself off from everything that was around me to be able to focus on my goal, the combat. I opened my eyes slowly, and now could barely hear the crowd screaming and asking to continue the fight, I returned my gaze only for the little reindeer, who was waiting for the signal to continue the fight. I felt like I was seeing things in slow motion, I could even see the flutter of her eyelashes when she blinked.

I've had this feeling before, and knew that it was the time when I could achieve a much higher level of my skills. Master Shifu and Tamotso Utin ordered us to continue. Hina ran towards me, and as she approached she tried to stick the wooden sword in my belly. I dodged going sideways, then I spin and hit a cut on her ribs. She looked at the risk of ink that was on her clothes and then growled in anger.

She ran for another attack, and I began to defend each blow using the side of my wooden katana. The audience seemed not to breathe while Hina tried to hit me with quick blows. Her speed was incredible, but I could see every one of her movements, and she couldn't break my defense. I was walking backwards, and soon realized that I'd end up hitting one of the pillars again. The problem actually was another: Hina's blows were cutting my sword, and soon I wouldn't have a weapon to fight and defend myself.

And it happened, Hina made a horizontal cut that literally cut my wooden katana in half, and then kept trying to hit me. I dodged her blows and then took a spin in the air, hitting a kick on her muzzle, throwing her away from me. I could no longer score points, so I had only one option and strategy: take her sword!

A great irony of fate I'd say, here we were again, I was unarmed and willing to take the sword from her hand. As soon as she got up, I ran toward her. Hina tried to hit a lateral cut on my waist, but I threw myself on the floor, sliding toward her and dodging myself from the blow. Then I jumped to get up and hit a knee on Hina's chin, and still in the air, hit a kick on her chest. She was dizzy for a while due to the combo.

I took the chance and grabbed her wrist, threw her on the floor, belly up, and climbed on her back. Then I started to hit her hand against the dirt floor to try to make her drop the katana, but she didn't seem to be willing to drop her sword.

"C'mon! Release this sword!" I screamed.

"No!" she answered.

"You will drop this katana, you hear me?!" I thundered, still hitting her arm against the floor.

"No! I will not drop katana, you will release my arm!" she replied, indignantly.

"You will drop, liking it or not!" I said.

After twisting her arm several times and in many different ways, she still hadn't let go of the katana. So I lowered my head and bit her hand, making her cry out in pain, but she didn't drop the katana!

"AAAAH! You freaking...Cannibal!" she shouted, and bit my tail.

I screamed in pain and jumped away from her. Then I remembered something very important, that Master Shifu told me. Hina ran towards me.

"Wait!" I shouted, stretching my arms toward her, begging for her not to attack me. "I...I can't continue without something to defend myself. Could you give me another katana to continue fighting?" I asked.

For a moment I thought she was going to mock me, say no and keep attacking me, but it wasn't what happened. To my surprise, Master Shifu was right, the samurais took their honor much more seriously than many, and Hina wanted to be a bugeisha onna (woman samurai). She left her fighting position, walked over to me and, with one hand on the handle and the other on the edge of the katana, she held the sword for me to take it.

"Of course. Take it" she said in a friendly voice, and everyone in the audience applauded for her act.

"Wow...thank you" I took the sword gently and bowed to thank "But...how you gonna fight?" I asked. She walked away from me and pulled another wooden katana from her back!

"With this" she said.

"WHAT?! How did you...I-I mean, how can..." I asked quickly, in amazement. But before I could really ask something she attacked me and we continued to fight.

We continued with our amazing fight, that seemed that would never end. My friends, who were cheering for me, and the whole audience hardly blinked with all that action. Hina tried to hit me several blows, quick as lightning, while I tried to use more agile movements and powerful attacks. I would say that 15 minutes passed before me and Hina were in our physical limits to continue, we were sweating a lot and our muscles ached like hell. But Hina was way more tired than I, and during a series of blows she was doing, I managed to open her guard and hit a quick cut on her thigh, another on her belly and aimed at her neck, but stopped before hitting her.

"*gasp-gasp*...I see...that you win *gasp* Liu-san" Hina said breathlessly, then fell on her back due to exhaustion.

I couldn't answer, and when she fell, I dropped my wooden katana and fell to my knees, also exhausted. Finally, it was over, each day of training and all my effort was worth it.

"The participant Liu Zhang scored 10 points!" Tamotso Utin said aloud to the audience.

"So, she is the winner of this fight" Master Shifu continued. The audience cheered and clapped us both.


	15. Chapter 2 (part 9) final

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **02\. Let me see your true self (part 9) [FINAL]**

My friends came running from the audience to hug me, then threw me into the air several times to celebrate my victory. I was a little dizzy when they put me on the floor, so I fell on my face on the dirt floor. Tuggsy helped me to my feet.

"You were amazing, Jade!" he exclaimed. I tried to answer, but I was too tired, so I just smiled and shook my head to thank.

"Good work, Liu. All that effort was worth it, right?" Master Shifu congratulated me. I also thanked shaking my head. Then the great samurai, Tamotso Utin, and Hina approached.

"Congratulations, little Liu. You not only won the fight, but also is the first to get through to the next stage of the event" said the big moose.

I had forgotten! My goal, at first, was to come to the event and face Tamotso Utin, but after what happened on the day I arrived at the event, my focus was to win the fight against Hina, his apprentice. I trained hard to improve my skills, and yet I believe I got lucky to win. I recovered my breath to speak.

"Thank you, Tamotso Utin. It's an honor to have come this far, but...Hina was too much for me. She fought very well and I admit that she is better than me in a sword fight. However great was my training, she...has a gifted hability, and I think she is already an awesome samurai. I was lucky to win this fight" my words left Hina a little embarrassed, but she gave a friendly smile and came close to me.

"Coming from a great Master like you, I am grateful for the words, Liu-san. You fight very well today too, and I hope we can fight again another day" she thanked me and then bowed. I bowed then.

"Oh, and if you want you can call me Jade" I said.

"But...just your friends call you Jade" she said, confused. I blinked an eye then, and she understood what I meant. She gave a big smile and both of us laughed.

"I understand if you do not want to fight today, little Liu. But know that I and Hina will still be in town for a few days, and when you feel better, you can fight me" Tamotso Utin said finally. We both bowed to the other. Then Leona approached.

"Er, Mr. Tamotso Utin. I was already in the event, and Hina looks very tired...I was wondering if there's any problem if I fight only against you?" she asked politely. The samurai looked at his apprentice.

"There is no problem. Get ready, you will be next fight" he answered and Leona bowed in response.

It'd be an exciting fight. Leona was very skilled with swords and other blades. My friends went to the audience, but before I went, I looked at my clothes. It was all scratched with brown ink that came from Hina's sword, the 9 cuts she hit me were staining my favorite clothes.

"What is it, Liu?" asked Tuggsy.

"Look at this!...Darn it, this is my favorite clothes. I hope this ink skirt easy with water.

As soon as I said that, Tuggsy took a bucket of cold water and threw it at me. I shivered with cold and shook myself to take some of the water. That fool!

"Hehehe! It seems that it is easy to wash with water, doesn't it, Jade?" he joked.

"Oh, you dummy! Come here!" I exclaimed, then started to run after him.

I ran after him around the whole arena, then he left the event and ran through the streets. Everyone was looking at us and it was embarrassing. He kept running, until a bird that was flying in Tuggsy's direction bumped into him and both fell to the ground. I came around to see who it was, and I felt a certain shiver down my spine: Zeng! Our best messenger, but he should be with Po and the others at the Jade Palace. What was he doing here?

"Zeng? W-what are you doing here?" I asked, somewhat scared.

He caught his breath, but didn't answer. Instead, he looked around, agitated, then handed me a little scroll. It said: 'Help! Taotie took Po and the others. He is in the Jade Palace, and said that if 'the brat' don't appear alone, he would make mincemeat of the hostages' . 'Note: I can not speak because my throat is hurting after Monkey made me eat a mud cookie that had a stone in it'.

That was bad! We left our friends unprotected in the Jade Palace, and now they were in trouble. What Taotie was planning? Well, now it was time to act, and there was no way I was going there alone. Surely it was a trap!

"We have to go! Tuggsy, you come with me. Zeng, er...Master Shifu and others are in Tamotso Utin's event in that arena, tell them all what happened! Me and Tuggsy are going ahead" I exclaimed.

Zeng understood and would fly to call the others, but suddenly a rope was thrown and caught his foot. We looked to see who did it, and ended looking up. It was him, Taotie! He was in a balloon, and began flying toward the Valley of Peace, as he pulled Zeng with him.

Tuggsy and I ran after them, trying to hold Zeng's hands, but they were going too fast to reach them. We ran for a while, until we arrived at the bamboo forest, and all of a sudden Taotie cut the rope and Zeng fell flat on his face.

"Zeng! Go! You must call the others" Tuggsy shouted. The servant of the Jade Palace was terrified, but obeyed and flew. But before he could go anywhere, someone threw a rope with stones at the ends, that by hitting Zeng, curled around his body and made him fall flat on his face again.

"I'm fine!...Yay, I can speak again!" he exclaimed.

"You are not going anywhere!" a creepy voice spoke behind us. Viper!

I turned around and she hit me a powerful blow in the face, throwing me away. Monkey then appeared and punched Tuggsy's belly, making him breathless, then grabbed him by the arm and threw the snow leopard in a large stone that was near. I looked terrified at my friend lying on the ground, who was moaning in pain, and the worst...a large patch of blood ran in the stone. Tuggsy had hit his head, and it was a very serious injury!

Evil laughs sounded around us and soon the other 'bad parts' appeared behind the bamboos. Po, Tigress, Monkey, Viper, Mantis and Crane stared at us with contempt and started laughing again, making fun of us.

"You fools, did you really believe you could face us alone?" Crane scoffed.

"That's it. We were going to finish you all of one by one, so that the torture would be more fun, but since you wanted to suffer together, let it be!" Po continued.

Cowards! I knew there was a trap planned, but I didn't expect it'd be like this. They attacked us by surprise and in greater numbers, and now my best friend, Tuggsy, was on the floor with a serious injury, and I had no strength to fight them alone. The event and chase the balloon left me completely exhausted. But that wouldn't stand! I got up slowly and saw that Tuggsy was trying to get up, then I said.

"You...bastards! That was the last straw! Even if it means hurting the ones I love, I won't let you hurt any other innocent folks, neither my friends!" I exclaimed, with hatred. Then I took out of my pocket my secret weapon: the Gong Lu Medallion.

"Liu...no! It's too dangerous! The dark power within it will consume you! You said you'd only use the medallion in emergencies" Tuggsy shouted after getting up, still groaning with pain.

"What do you want to happen to this become an emergency, Tuggsy?! I won't wait until you or someone die for me to use this thing! And as for you, monsters, why don't you fight against another monster?!" I exclaimed in response, then placed the medallion around my neck.

"JADE!" Tuggsy shouted.

What was that? My eyes burned like fire. My fists were shaking and my teeth gnashed of anxiety. I looked ahead and there they were, neither my friends nor my family, but my enemies! And they wanted to kill me. Who would be the next victim after today if I didn't do something? How long it'd take for those infernal creatures stop laughing? Voices that made fun of all my hard work. Who were they to think that they had that right?

Obviously what I was feeling could only be one thing: the desire for revenge...and of destroying those suckers who thought were superior to me! I walked straight and stopped in the middle of them, then I stared at them with a cold look in my eyes. They stared at me too and I could feel by far the hot breath of their mouths, with growls of hatred in their throats. Certainly, they were feeling and wishing the same as me. Dying is something natural, so why not postpone this fact to those who deserve? My mission would be over, here and right now.

"So...you're going to start or you'll wait I dig your graves first?" I challenged them. They laughed again, which made my blood boil.

"There will be no graves! After we're done with you, there will not be even something to bury! Hahahahahaha!" the bag of feather provoked me, approaching me by my left side with his ridiculous thin legs.

He tried to hit a blow on my neck using his wing, but before he hit me, I raised my elbow and put in the way. When the wing hit me, it twisted in the shape of my elbow and made a weird sound of metal. The idiot looked at me dumbfounded, apparently surprised, but no sign of pain. But now he'd surely feel pain! I grabbed the tip of his beak, then pulled as much breath as I could, closed my fist and hit a powerful punch in his thin neck, leaving him breathless.

As soon as I did that, I heard the talking noodle jumped towards me. She hit me a blow on the back that hurt like a whip, then tried to hit another on my face, but I grabbed her by the tail tip, shook her in the air and hit her head on the floor twice. Then I crouched to dodge a flying kick from Monkey, wrapped Viper on Crane's neck and threw them toward the filthy primate, making them fall on the floor. I looked around for the next to face me, but no one was around. But I hadn't seen the runt approaching and he managed to hit me a sequence of punches in the stomach and he jumped on my right shoulder.

He hit a pressure point that paralyzed my arm, then gave me a kick in the ear, which made me walk away from him. He came running towards me again, and as he jumped, I caught with my good arm a piece of bamboo from the floor and used as a bat to knock the insect and threw him away, inside the bamboo forest. I laughed at the stupidity of my opponent to have been defeated this way.

But my enjoyment was short-lived, until I heard someone falling upon me. Tigress! She took a spin in the air and kicked me on the cheek, causing me to fall to the ground and blow the other side of my face on the ground in a violent way. I felt like I had my jaw broken, I could barely move myself after that blow. Then I felt a bastard kicking me in the ribs and making me stand on my back with pain. It was that fat panda! He laughed at me and then stepped on my stomach, crushing me against the floor. Then he came on top me with both feet, one on my belly and another in the neck. I groaned with pain, and as he rolled off me, Tigress slammed on my left knee. I started to agonize in pain, and the more I screamed, more the anger was consumming me for failing to get up and give a lesson in those assholes.

Soon the others appeared and started beating me too. Po lifted me from the ground and gave me a punch in the face, throwing me toward Monkey, who gave me a powerful knee on my spine. He pushed me in the direction of Viper, who curled herself on me and made me hit several punches in my own face. Then she threw me in the direction of Mantis, who hit me countless blows all over my body. Tigress then gave me a knee to the stomach, which seemed to explode my from inside and left me breathless, then hit an elbow in my neck that knocked me belly on the floor.

"Hey! You fools, what about my turn?!" exclaimed Crane, indignantly.

"Shut up" Tigress answered quickly with a cold tone.

Damn it! I couldn't get up. My body kept me from doing anything. I had to think of something to do quickly, or those imbeciles would finish me off. It was more than time to do them taste their own medicine. Then a problem occurred.

"Stop!" Tuggsy shouted from afar. Blood trickled the left side of his face as he struggled to stand next to the stone.

"Well well. It seems that the loser haven't died...yet" scoffed Viper, with her terrifying voice.

"Yeah. So, Crane, how about you be kind enough to finish the job of a certain useless trash?" Tigress suggested, looking for Monkey, who 'haven't finished the job'.

"You don't boss on me! Hehe, but I will do it with pleasure" Crane said, already heading toward Tuggsy. "I hope you don't know how to fly, buddy."

I could do nothing, the damn pain was too strong to allow me even crawl. Tuggsy tried to hit a slow punch on Crane, but he ducked and grabbed him by the tail, then took off. He went as high as the clouds, then let Tuggsy. The snow leopard seemed to be so weak that he could barely scream during the fall. I looked at it intently, if that idiot fell and die, all the effort that I did so far would be in vain. I joined forces from places I never imagined being able to have energy and ran toward where he was going to fall, climbed a high bamboo and jumped to grab him, then turned on my back to protect him from falling. I managed to save him. I pushed him off me and lift myself, then I saw that my shoulder was covered with his blood.

"*gasp*...*gasp*...Thank you, Jade!" Tuggsy thanked me. I closed my fists in anger.

"Idiot! What do you think you're doing? If I have to fight, I can't be taking care of you" I thundered, making him paralyzed with astonishment "Really, buddy! You can't fight. You're weak, bleeding and aren't a match for them!"

"But...Jade...you are weak and sore too...and you can't win...not alone" he said in a low tone. I felt a strange feeling inside me when he said it.

"Shut up! I trained for this day. It is my duty to win! And I'm not kidding, they'll kill you! You have no conditions of helping me, then don't interfere. When the others arrive, this will be over and we'll take care of you...so in the meantime: don't try to be a hero, because you are not one!" after saying it, I turned and walked slowly towards my enemies, who were staring at me as if they had seen something strange.

"Liu! Take off this...OUCH!" Tuggsy had risen, then he came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, but cried out in pain and turned away quickly.

I looked back, confused. He was blowing the hand, which was leaving smoke, as if it had been burned. Then I realized: my body was on fire! A small red flame covered my whole body. I had a strange feeling, as if I was no longer in pain, and I had a lot of energy running through my veins. I looked at my clothes and saw that the blood on it was evaporating. I knew what it was, and knew exactly how to use to my advantage.

"This damn thing again? It can't be..." exclaimed Viper, with a hostile tone.

"That's right! The Flaming Heart of the Hero. It was about time this thing appears, and that's exactly what I'll use to stop you! Prepare yourselves, because this time You are going down" I stated, already coming into fighting position.

"Hahaha! Don't be silly, you will not defeat us just because you are on fire" scoffed Mantis, then he came running towards me.

When he jumped to attack me, I hit him a rotating kick and he flew towards the others, hitting the flabby panda's belly and leaving him breathless. The others snarled and ran towards me to start the fight. I ran toward them at a much higher speed than I'm used to, then aimed a punch on Monkey's face, who was in front of me and threw him away. Crane and Viper tried to attack me by both my sides, so I used my hands, forearms and elbows to defend myself from the blows sequences. Then I managed to open both of their guard and jumped to open a split and kick both away from me. So Tigress ran up to me and hit me a punch in the stomach and another on my chin, and when I was going to fall back, I took the momentum of it and used as impulse to blow a shot that prang on her muzzle. She fell to the ground and I jumped on her to get three punches on her face, but Po suddenly appeared and grabbed me by the neck with one hand, then began to punch me in the stomach.

I raised my knee as he went for a last punch, making him hit it and groan in pain, then I kicked him in the face and joined hands to knock on his forearm to make him free me. So I grabbed him by the arm and threw him on the Tigress.

I turned away from them and noticed something interesting: everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion. I could clearly see even the movements of their eyes blinking and the movement of the wind passing by the bamboo forest. I did a few pirouettes and stood right in the middle of the dirt road that passed through the forest, hoping that they'd attack me at once. It was somewhat risky, but with that higher speed, endurance, strength and being able to see things more slowly, I trusted that could easily defend myself from them. So surely they'd fall into my trap and I'd defeat them with a single attack.

The Thundering Wind Hammer! One of the legendary kung fu's impossible moves, which I learned thanks to Po, certainly would make a good damage on these suckers. They thought they were great, but never tasted so much power at once. They surrounded me and then ran toward me to give a blow in group, but I jumped in the air and they hit each other. Then in the air, I spin on a super speed, causing the wind that blew in the forest run around me and I focused in on the palms, forming a small red energy sphere.

I threw it at them. It exploded and the blast caught them all. Losers! It was over. I pulled back the great cloud of dust and stared at it for a moment.

"No! Why did you do that?!" Taodie exclaimed, stopping beside me, staring at me as if I'd done something wrong.

"So you decided to join the party?" I asked ironically, then I kicked him in the nuts. He groaned in pain and fell to his knees.

"Wretch!" he muttered "What was that for?"

"Are you stupid or are only making a fool of yourself?! You're an asshole! You kidnapped part of the souls of my friends and made them destroy villages, steal stuff, and I bet that the next step was to make them murderers!" I thundered, wanting to hit him again.

"Do not be silly! Why would I do they become such things? This was never my goal!" after he said that, I grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground, he groaned in pain because of the heat of the flame that was around me.

"So what was it, you maniac?"

Though all the hatred I was feeling, I didn't hit him. I let him as soon as I realized that the smoke had lowered, and saw something that surprised me. Po and the Furious Five...they were machines! Their bodies were made of a dark gray metal, full of screws and had holes for eyes, where I'd see a flame burning within them. And with small cracks in the metal, it was possible to see the fire within them, leaving them with a frightening appearance.

That explained why I always heard a strange sound of metal from them, and also their weird voices and the snap of fire. In this case, they undoubtedly weren't my friends! They lined up and went into fighting position. Then Taotie answer.

"Why are you so surprised? You know I only work with machines. Since the day I heard of such a mirror that could separate the 'good side' of the 'dark side', I tried to make a machine that could do something better: Copy both sides. That way, I could create machines that were equal to your friends! And ... "

"And let me guess...you created machines like them, but that first machine didn't work right and you just put the bad side of them inside. But even with the error, you still thought you could convince everyone that machines can do everything better than us, even be better at kung fu...yeah, it was a nice plan" I interrupted him, speaking rapidly and with a bored tone.

"Hey! I was going to say it all...but anyway, that's right! These guys are better at everything: they are stronger, faster, since they are made of metal they are much more resistant, and not to mention that they obey me like slaves! Ha-haha!" he laughed, with his annoying laugh.

"Not that we have much of a choice..." muttered Monkey.

"Er...you know that who are fighting are my friends and not your stupid machines, right? And that, therefore, your plan was a failure, because you actually should have made a machine that fought better than us and..." I tried to argue, but Taotie interrupted.

"Shut up! And you, take her down, Now!" he shouted. I gave another kick in his balls, then ran out to attack Po and the others.

In a strange way, I felt like I was being protected, or as if someone was guiding me during the fight. A voice very similar to mine spoke to me as I struggled, telling me: "Finish them off!" - "Behind you!" - "That's it" - "Attack, it's your chance" - "Don't have pity, they're your enemies!"

I fought fiercely against the legendary warriors of the Jade Palace, known as the heroes of China, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't overcome their speed and the fact that I was outnumbered. They began to surround me and hit me several blows. I couldn't hit just one of them, and when I could, another came to fight me back, giving time for the one that I was beating have time to recover. No matter how much they hated each other, they had a great group coordination.

I began to get angry and tried to hit more lethal blows on them, hitting in places or to hurt them a lot or to make them leave the combat. When I had the chance, hit a strong punch in the heart of Monkey, a knee to Crane's neck, made a knot with Viper's body, crushed Mantis with my palm and threw him away, and finally hit a sequence of hits and then a paralyzing blow on Tigress.

But before I could continue with the attacks, Po hit me a kick to the chin that lifted me off the ground, and when I fell, he jumped on top of me and sat. He laughed at me and stuck his tongue. That left me seething with anger, and the voice in my head said: "Get up, useless! Will you let him make fun of you like that?". I took Po off me and as he got up, I started to hit him intensely.

He managed to defend sometimes, but he couldn't keep up my pace any longer. After a powerful sequence of punches and kicks on his face, stomach and limbs, I realized he was almost fainting, no longer able to fight. How ridiculous. I thought the best thing to do now was to apply the final blow: a punch using the full strength of the Flaming Heart of the Hero, which surely was going to cross the chest of that metal fool.

"STOP! If you destroy the capsules with the 'bad parts' or destroy the machine, you will end up killing them!" shouted Taotie by far.

'Capsules'? That meant that, in a way, my friends were trapped inside those things, and if I destroy both...they would die! What was I doing? I had to stop it. And then I heard my own voice tell me again: "What are you thinking? It's your chance, Kill Him!". I closed my eyes and screamed to answer "NO!"

Suddenly, I found myself in a completely dark place and with no sign of life until I turned back, and there it was...a black panther, a lot like me, but with red eyes and big, pointy teeth! A red flane, just likw the one of the Flaming Heart of the Hero, surrounded her body.

"You are weak...other half" she told me.

"O-other half?" I exclaimed. Soon, I realized that I was also surrounded by a flame, but it was blue, like the first time I used the technique, but my flame wasn't as intense as hers.

"Yes...without me you're nothing!"

"What are you talking about? You are not me!"

"Yes I am! Or better...I am you, but the true one... and also the best! Hehe"

"No! Shut up! I don't know who you are...but...if you really are my 'bad part'...you're only here because of that medallion"

"You will not get it off! You know that, don't you?"

"Try to stop me"

"Hahahahahahahaha! Well ... go back and keep being the fake Liu Zhang! But just to let you know...I've managed to do enough for me to be in control forever!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You, the 'good Liu', won'tt last long! And soon I'll be back with full power!"

I got out of that strange place and saw that I was heading towards Po, which was a problem, as I was doing that blow that I was going to do before, and I hadn't realized it. It was something unconscious and I wouldn't manage to stop. And then something unexpected happened: Tigress stepped in front of Po, shielding him, and my blow crossed her metallic chest with ease.

"...n-no..." I said softly, my voice shaking and heart pounding.

"...Liu...sorry..." my mother said, with a feature who was apparently crying, but no tears came out of the machine.

A tear rolled down my face. The flame that used to shine inside her body had disappeared and she stopped moving, what meant that my mother, Tigress, was dead. I fell to my knees and cried. I stared at that lifeless body, unable to even take my arm off her chest. What had I done? She wasn't only my mother...she had saved me in a situation where I was desperate, not to mention that she performed my greatest dream, she was my hero!...Now it was over, and it was all my fault. The Flaming Heart of the Hero had gone, and I felt weaker and sadder than ever.

Then I saw Po coming towards me and he was seething with hatred, aiming a punch that was probably as strong as the one I used, and Crane was behind me, aiming a blow to the back of my neck. They were going to kill me! But then I heard Koshi and Leona run toward them. Leona jumped in the air and spun to hit a rotating kick in the panda's nose, while Koshi jumped toward Crane, grabbed him, knocked him to the ground, somersaulted still holding the bird and threw him with all his might toward Monkey, who was also approaching, knocking both to the ground.

Soon, someone grabbed me and pulled me from the body of my mother. Then I saw that Viper had tried to attack me, and when missed she again ran toward me to fight. She jumped toward my face and would sting me, but still in the air, a sword cut her vertically in half. The two parts fell to the ground, motionless, and the fire within Viper also went out. Who killed her?!

"Hello, Jade! Are you okay?" to my amazement, it was the girl who saved me days ago, wearing a similar outfit to mine, but white and wearing a mask with a lotus flower on it. I got up quickly and gave her a punch as hard as I could on her face.

"If I'm Okay?! You killed my friend! Why did you save me that day if you'd try to kill my friends later?! I'm gonna kill you!" I thundered, hitting another punch on her face.

"Liu, Stop!" Leona screamed from behind me, and I felt her sword cutting the cord of the Gong Lu Medallion, making it fall from my neck.

I had the strange feeling that I've gotten rid of a huge weight when the medallion fell out of my neck. My vision was blurred for a moment and I almost fell on the floor. My heart beat more slowly and I was feeling strangely calm. All this was to be the effect of wearing that thing, anger had dominated me and I was acting impulsively, but now it was over.

"Feeling calmer now, Jade?" asked the masked girl, somewhat indignantly.

"I ...I think so, but still! You killed her..." I replied, looking at the two parts of the metal body of Viper, but the girl interrupted me.

"I didn't run like crazy to tell your friends to come here and end up doing such a dumb thing! Do you think I'm stupid, Liu? I haven't killed her!" she said.

"It is true, Liu!" shouted Master Shifu as he appeared from nowhere, already heading towards the fighting and hitting a flying kick at Crane's nozzle.

"But...if the 'bad parts' die...the 'good parts' die as well" I muttered quietly.

"Neither Tigress nor Viper are dead" the masked girl continued. I stared at her for a moment, not understanding, but already happy with the news "While you were fighting with all your might, we realized there is a small slit on Po's nape and also on the Five. It is a small compartment with the 'bad parts' of them, according to Taotie. If the machines are destroyed, the 'bad parts' won't suffer damage." As soon as she finished speaking, I faced the villain with a cold, penetrating gaze. It was his fault that I got scared as hell, thinking that if I had destroyed the machines I'd kill my friends too.

He gave a laugh that expressed his fear by situation, after he realized that I found out he lied. I kicked his low parts again, making him run out of air and roll on the ground with pain.

"...Thank goodness...that I've already had a son..." he groaned.

"Even if I'm bad or not, and with or without the medallion, you still deserve more than this!" I grumbled, but relieved to know that my friends were fine.

When I turned around to talk to the masked girl, I felt a strong dizziness and fell to the ground. I was exhausted and couldn't keep my balance. The medallion made me very strong at first but drained my energy when I took it off. She came close to me, bent down and told me to rest and that they'd take care of the rest. As she didn't give me time to answer, I just kept sitting and watching my friends finish the battle.

They had a strategy: Koshi, Leona and the masked girl fought against only one of the machines, and when they managed to immobilize them, Master Shifu opened the compartment in their heads and pulled the 'capsule' from within them, which was a small silver cylinder . Then Leona kept these capsules in a brown bag she was holding. One by one, the original Furious Five were defeated, and only the 'bad part' of Po was standing. Koshi and Leona tried to grab the big panda, but he was very angry and had a tremendous strength. Po struck several powerful blows on my friends, keeping them from immobilizing him.

The panda grabbed Master Shifu by the neck and slammed him into the ground, making him pass out. Then kicked the masked girl in the belly, throwing her away. Then set out to attack Koshi and Leona, who defended the quick attacks using their hands and elbows. It was then that I realized they'd need my help. I took a deep breath, got up, regained my balance and stopped to think, seeing that my throwing knives were strewn on the floor. Whoever has brought them from the event, I got three of them and threw two towards Po, who had his back to me. They clung to his metallic skin and he turned to face me, as if he wanted to stop his fight and come towards me.

And that's when he made his final mistake. Koshi and Leona pulled the knives from his back to attack him. Koshi crouched behind Po's legs while Leona walked around him and kicked him in the face, making him go backwards and stumble in the dark-skinned wolf. Then they dug their knives in the hands of Po, sticking him to the ground, and I jumped on top of him, pressing my blade against her neck. Quickly, Leona took the last capsule containing the 'bad parts' of our friends.

"It is finished. We won!" she said, pleased.

"Phew! What an awesome day! And what a fight, huh?" said Koshi, with a sportier tone.

I'd celebrate, but I had no energy to it. However, I was more than happy! The mission came to an end and my friends and my mother finally would come back to normal. The masked girl came walking toward me and was about to tell me something, but a white rope appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself around her, holding her on a large rock that was near. Then came the annoying laughter of our enemy, Taotie.

"Haven't you ever heard that the battle only ends when it is finished? Rá-haha! You fools, have you thought you were going to beat me so easily?" he exclaimed.

To our astonishment, he was riding a machine that looked like a giant spider! It was made of the same metal as the 'bad parts', it was 3 meters tall, had long, strong legs, and fire burned in it's eyes. It looked so amazing, but at the same time it gave me a shiver down the spine. Taotie launched another rope in our direction. Leona pushed us away and the rope wrapped around her body, immobilizing and knocking her to the ground.

"Leona!" Koshi exclaimed.

Seething with anger, Koshi ran toward Taotie to hit a flying kick on him, but the spider jumped quickly to the side and with a surprising agility jumped on Koshi and held him to the ground, using it's front legs. Then Taotie stared at me and, still holding my friend, the spider opened it's mouth and started throwing shurikens at me. Quickly, I grabbed my throwing knife off the floor and hit the shurikens, defending myself, but increasingly shurikens approached and I wouldn't be able to defend myself from them all.

One of them scraped my face, and another hit my thumb, making me drop the knife, and another 3 shurikens came towards me. I put my hand in front of my face to protect myself, but the unexpected happened: Hina appeared out of nowhere and came in front of me! Then she took her katana and hit the shurikens, saving me.

"Hina!" I exclaimed.

"It seems that I get at right time, right, Liu-san?" she said, smiling. I looked again at the great metalic spider and saw a red figure pass behind it.

"Hey! Who are you, little girl?!" exclaimed Taotie.

"Sorry, I think the right question is: who are you Two?" said Hina, with a cheerful tone.

As soon as she said it, the sound of a metal being cut sounded, and the legs of the metalic spider fell. The 'head and back part', where Taotie was, fell on Koshi. The boar looked at the smirk on the wolf's face and felt the goose bumps. Koshi, still under the machine, supported the machine on his feet and used all his strength to fling it into the air, and while Taotie was in the air, Leona jumped and kicked Taotie's face, throwing him in a bamboo. He fell headlong to the ground. Koshi then rolled to the side to avoid being crushed by the machine's massive weight.

I saw our enemy get up and then fall again because of dizziness, then I saw that the machines with the 'bad parts' of my friends were fallen and motionless. I took a great leap of happiness.

"YEAH! We won! Finally...this nightmare is over. Or rather...almost over!" I exclaimed, then I walked toward Taotie.

"No! Please, don't hurt me in my low regions again!" he said, putting his hands between his legs to defend himself.

"I won't hurt you...this time" I answered.

"No? Really?" he asked, opening one eye.

"No. You just have to bring my mother and my friends back to normal" I continued.

"Why would I do that? For them to hit me as well?!" he said, in an ironic way.

"No...it's because if you don't, there is going to be a whole queue to kick your low parts" I said, in a calm but threatening tone. I smiled and he froze when he saw that everyone was staring at him.

"Want me to start bringing your mother back to normal? Or maybe the Po...or everyone at once?! I just need my machine that copies the 'good and bad parts' back to reverse the process and voila! It's done! When can we go?" he answered quickly, making us all laugh.

Finally, it was over. Again, good defeated evil. When we brought our friends back to normal, we celebrated the victory and explained everything that had happened to them. Then Koshi and Leona led Taotie for Chorh-Gom prison, me and the others said goodbye to our new friends, Hina and Tamotso Utin, who would still be in China for a while; and me and the masked girl went to see how Tuggsy was.

He was in the hospital of the Valley of Peace, sleeping in a bed with several bands around his head, but he'd be fine. Tuggsy was seriously hurt, but he was strong, and in two weeks he could even return to his home. I felt guilty for all the bad things I did while wearing the Gong Lu Medallion, but I also had many questions to do, and they occupied my mind. Me and the masked girl left the hospital and she was leaving.

"Wait!...I had forgotten" I bowed myself and then continued "Thank you. You saved my life, and it was not just once."

"No need to thank me, Jade" she said with a cheerful tone.

"And...sorry, hehe! I wasn't myself while wearing that medallion and...hitting you in the face was not nice of my part" I continued, somewhat embarrassed.

"Yeah. A weird way of thanking a friend, I'd say. But I'm not mad at you. And besides, you'll see me again" she said, jumping to the hospital's roof.

"Hey! Wait" I exclaimed and she looked down "Who are you? I know you from somewhere, or am I wrong?" I continued.

"I'm Lotus Flower!" she said with a wink "And no...you must be mistaking me with someone else. But one thing is certain: you still owe me a fight" she said in a friendly tone, then left.

I didn't understand why exactly Lotus Flower said I owed her a fight, but it made me thoughtful. In that last flicker of eye she gave, I realized again that she was a clouded leopard. I was sure that I've met a clouded leopard long ago, but something seemed to prevent me from remembering. Well, it didn't matter much now, anyways, I had a fight to prepare myself, and other days to defeat the evil were ahead.

 **END**


	16. Chapter 3 (part 1)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **03\. Only the strongest will remain**

"I don't believe it! This is gonna be Awesome! Can't wait!" I exclaimed excitedly, then ripped the poster from the wall.

Nothing better than good news to brighten a cloudy day like that. It had been two weeks since the incident with Taotie, and from the day he was arrested, not much happened in the Valley of Peace. But that'd change now! A great event was coming, the TWT (Thunder Warrior Tournament), a great martial arts tournament, had just announced the opening of registration for participants.

It only happens once every five years, and I had only heard about the great and epic fights that it brought to everyone. Fights one against one, in pairs, in teams of 3 to 4 combatants; also featured fights with the most diverse blades and other weapons...it was a paradise for any lover of martial arts! Not to mention that several schools and kung fu academies and of other styles were eager to enroll their students and show off their great potential. I couldn't wait to go running to the closest location to be able to participate in this amazing event and kick some butts!

"Liu, whatever is this thing, put back on the wall and get back to work!" my mother, Master Tigress, called my attention.

She was right. Me, Viper, Crane and my mother were in the middle of a fight with a gang of buffaloes that had just stolen the Trade Area of the Valley of Peace. I glanced quickly at my friends fighting and then put the poster back on the wall. Out of the corner of my left eye I saw one of the thieves running toward me and was about to hit me with an ax.

I gave a somersault backwards and he hit the wall. I took the chance that the ax was stuck and I ran toward him, jumped on the wall to pick up momentum and hit a kick to the face of the thief. He fell to the ground, passed out, so I went to help the others. But they were just fine without my help, so I looked around to see if any thief was running away, and that's when I saw that one of them was walking on tiptoe trying to go away with the bag with money from the merchants.

I was behind him without he noticing me, then I touched his shoulder to get his attention. Before he turned, I bent down. He looked around, not understanding.

"Down here" I said, and as he looked down, I took a big leap and hit a punch on his jaw, knocking him to the ground and causing him to topple the bag.

Some bandits are more foolish than others, I have to admit. I went to get the bag with the money, but before I could, something heavy hit the ground, making it shiver. I was suddenly under a large shade, then I looked back frightened. A buffalo with a colossal size was staring at me, and he wasn't a very friendly guy. I took a step back as he opened his mouth to shout something.

"You Idiots! What do you think you're doing?" he shouted, addressing the other buffaloes, much smaller than him.

"Temutai? What are you doing here?!" exclaimed my mother. Temutai stared at her.

"That's what I was going to ask for these Troublemakers! When I told you to go practice your new skills I did not mean it was for you to come to the Valley of Peace, You Idiots!"

"But Master, how would we practice stealing something if we did not steal something?" asked one of the thieves, trembling with fear.

"Shut Up! I was not teaching you to steal. I was teaching Kung Fu Fighting! Because if you continued bad as you all are, we are never going to win the Thunder Warrior Tournament! And apparently it was All In Vain" said Temutai nervously.

My friends held themselves to keep from laughing, and after recomposing, they looked at each other as if they didn't believe it.

"So let me get this straight: you're teaching kung fu..." said Viper.

"For you and your henchmen attend the TWT?" added Crane.

"Of course! It is a very big event. Anyone can participate, and besides, the winner takes a Great Prize! And I want the prize to buy a new crown" replied the giant, now with a tone more excited than threatening.

"Er ... buy? I don't get it...if you steal things, why buying something?" I asked, more to tease him than by curiosity.

"Do you know how hard it is to steal a crown, brat? It is Very Difficult! It is almost as if the guards protect a crown more than those who wear it. It's like stealing a weapons shop, and know why it's hard to steal one? Because there are Weapons There!" he raised the tone of voice again.

"So...You would participate with them?" I asked then. He changed his expression to a cheerful one.

"Of course! I would not miss it for anything! It is the greatest martial arts event Of All!" he exclaimed.

"I know! I also wanna participate! Its gonna be Awesome!" I shouted, excited as well. The problem was that there was a moment of silence then and Temutai was staring at me.

"You...are going to attend the TWT?" he asked me.

"I think so, why do you...?" I was about to ask the reason of his question, but before I finished he'd give me the answer.

He was going to give me a kick on my left ear! I put my forearm in front to defend myself, but the blow was too powerful for me to endure. I felt an immense pain after the impact, then I was thrown against the wall that was on my side and fell to the ground. My forearm was hurting too much, seemed to be broken.

"LIU!" shouted my friends.

"YOU...YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR HURTING MY DAUGHTER!" shouted my mother, furiously, then ran towards the great buffalo.

"Daughter?..." he asked. After it was over, I even felt pity for Temutai. I think I've never seen anyone take such a beating.

When I went to get up from the ground, I almost fell again. The arm I used to defend myself was very sore. To see if anything bad had happened, my mother and the others led me to the Valley of Peace's hospital, where Tuggsy was still recovering from the head injury caused in fighting Taotie and the 'bad parts' of my friends.

Dr. Qiao, a lovely and smiling canary lady who might have the same age as my mother took care of me. Then she wrapped a band around my forearm and shook it firmly.

"I have no idea why you get in this kind of trouble, miss Liu. It's not the first time you come here after taking a beating from someone much bigger than you" she said, more as a joke than a scolding. I felt ashamed.

"And I believe that this won't be the last time, Dr. Qiao. Sorry...it's just that it's part of my job to face villains stronger than me" I said then.

"Fighting is part of the profession of all of you, from the Jade Palace, but that doesn't mean that it is Your job to get hurt Unnecessarily" she said, now more serious.

I wanted to continue that conversation for some time, I love to talk with Dr. Qiao, she always makes me happy and she was very clever, but I wanted to just go back to the Jade Palace and ask my mother and grandpa Shifu if I could participate in the TWT, or rather, represent the Jade Palace at the event! That'd be completely Amazing. I thanked her for helping and I was heading towards the steps of the Palace, when I remembered something very important.

"Dr. Qiao! I forgot to ask you something" I exclaimed, going back to her consulting room "Is Tuggsy getting better? "

"Do you mean the young snow leopard that hurt his head? Yes, he's much better now...but... he's been kinda sad lately, I would say" the answer worried me.

"Sad? Why?!"

"From the day he regained consciousness, he didn't talk much to anyone, not even with his family. He took the most bitter medicines and haven't complained even once, he stares at the ceiling all day...I'd forgotten to ask you: do you know something that might have left him like that? It was probably something that happened during his last battle" she asked me.

I felt my heart sink. To be honest, I didn't remember very well the battle against Taotie, not even if Tuggsy had been injured in the fight or during the ambush. The medallion I used to stop the "bad parts" of my friends had drained my memory of the battle before I destroyed the machine that had the 'bad part' of my mother. Thinking that Tuggsy was sad bothered me, I wanted to see him to see if I could cheer him up, but Dr. Qiao said it wasn't a good idea and that Tuggsy would soon be fine.

Before I went home, she just reminded me that my injury wasn't that serious but it'd take a long time for me to recover. She advised that I shouldn't make any effort with my left arm for three weeks, and that if I had to train, I should be careful not to hurt myself. I thanked her, said goodbye and left. Luckily, I'm right-handed.

Once I arrived at the Jade Palace, I went looking for my mother and Master Shifu to tell them about the TWT. They, Po and the others were in the Training Hall, doing the daily workout. I ran toward them, euphoric.

"Mom! Master Shifu! I need to talk ... "

"Calm down, Jade. We're not going anywhere. What is the reason for so much energy this time?" asked Master Shifu, quietly.

I explained to him and others about the TWT, its rules, different fighting and everything I knew about it. Then asked if I could participate and if I could represent the Jade Palace along with other three of us. When I saw that Master Shifu was with his thoughtful look, I remembered that he probably knew the TWT, and that he was just trying to decide whether to let me participate or not. He stared firmly at my mother for a few moments, and she ended up looking away and crossing her arms behind her back.

"So, we will participate, right, Master? After all, this is gonna be a Great Martial Arts Event! What kind of warriors will appear in a place like that?! Can't wait for it! This is gonna be So Cooool!" exclaimed Po, as excited as I was.

"No..." Shifu said quietly.

"So we can show off some kung fu awesomeness from the Dragon Warrior, the Jade Zhang and...wait...no?" Po said, now disappointed.

"No. The Jade Palace does not participate in tournaments" Master Shifu replied.

"But, Master..." I was about to protest, but our Master interrupted us.

"No! No one from the Jade Palace will participate in the TWT neither will represent us. And I forbid you all to go watch the event" he said with a firm tone, then he turned and left the Training Hall.

We were all a bit downcast because of that, but what bothered me most was the temper of our master. It had been a long time since he hadn't ranted with us almost, three days! It usually takes two days for him to argue about something. But this time it was a little stranger than usually.

Why had Master Shifu looked at my mother before answering? And worse: why had Tigress, such hardcore warrior, felt embarrassed by that? In addition to these questions, I also wanted to know what was wrong about the Jade Palace attending the tournament, but before I could ask something, my mother said, in a tone as if nothing had happened.

"So, Liu. Are you alright? What Dr. Qiao said?"

"Er...I'm fine, thanks. Dr. Qiao said I shouldn't make any kind of effort with my injured arm, but I can still train" I replied, not very lively. After all, I wasn't going to participate in the TWT.

"Nice! It is good to hear that. Well, why don't we get out of here a bit for me to talk to...I mean, for me to get a better look at it" she said quickly.

"But I just got back from the hosp..." I was about to protest, but she pulled me by my right arm and led me out of the Training Hall.

After we left, she just told me to be quiet and follow her up to our room. Once there, everything was very quiet without our friends around, not even the wind whistling could be heard. She sent me into the room and after checking that no one was around, she sat on her bed and asked me to sit on mine.

"Liu. I want to talk about something very serious with you" she began.

"But...what's so serious that you are doing it, mom?"

"I wanted to talk to you alone. Well, I'm sure you're disappointed with Master Shifu because he said that and didn't let let you participate in the TWT, right?" she asked, then continued as I nodded in agreement "Master Shifu is not being hard with you, Liu. I bet he'd like to go to the tournament as much as any of us, but he has a point to don't let us go. The Jade Palace and it's warriors are known and respected throughout China. It's not news to anyone that the greatest warriors are here, and of course it would be cool participate in a tournament. The problem is that we have an image to protect. If we really are considered the best and we have the responsibility of protecting all of China, then it's a waste of time going to the tournament"

"But...what hurt would it do if we went only once, mom?" I insisted, although I understood what she meant.

"Liu, the Jade Palace has the best warriors, who protect China and fight to save everyone from the evil, don't you think it would be unfair or even wrong to fight against those who are just learning kung fu? Who are following our millenary tradition...wouldn't it seem that we were trying to showing off? Or even saying that kung fu is only for those who were born for this?..." she continued.

The words of my foster mother hit me like a punch in the stomach. She was right. It wasn't fair wanting to participate in a tournament we knew we were going to win. Certainly the TWT would bring great fighters from all over China, and many of them could have amazing abilities, but what could overcome the greatest warriors of all? Po was the Dragon Warrior, he defeated the evil and saved the lives of everyone countless times, and the old Furious 5 were chosen to become the greatest and best trained warriors of all. And as for me, who was going to participate in the youth tournament, I'd never lost a single fight in the Children's Day events at the Jade Palace, even before living and training here.

I could now understand the point of view of our master, except I still didn't understand why he acted like that. Although he was harsh sometimes, he was wise and wouldn't rant with someone without good reason.

"Oh, now I understand, mother. It's just that... "

"You wanted to participate to get the prize, haven't you?" she asked, with sympathy in her voice.

"We have recovered the orphanage completely from the...you know" I said, remembering the terrible past and the destruction of the orphanage, my old home, just over one year ago "But I still feel like that that place could be better for those children. Everything there seems so precarious and that it just has enough to survive while they await a family come to adopt them. I know I can't do the Bao Gu Orphanage turn into a second Jade Palace, but I wanted to improve it a bit...my old home" I said with a little sadness.

"It is because of this and many other reasons that I'm proud to have adopted you to call you my daughter, Liu Zhang" she said, sympathetically, then got up, sat down beside me and hugged me "I'm sure you'll think of another way to do what is right, and that will help your friends" she finished, then she gave me a kiss on the forehead and went out of the room.

"Mom, wait. Before we go...why Master Shifu was so annoyed by the idea of going to the TWT? I mean, he doesn't want us to go even watch the fights, it'd be an honor for both of us and for the fighters if we went? And...why he looked at you like that?" I asked, still not understanding the situation very well. She hesitated to answer for a moment.

"Let's say it's more complicated than it seems, Liu. The TWT and the Jade Palace..." she was interrupted when Po opened the door.

"Er, sorry, have I interrupted you? Want me to come later, Tigress?" he asked, embarrassed.

"Yes, you have. And when I said I'd talk to you about what my 'bad' part did during that fight, and I said 'later', I mean 'Much later', Now if you'll excuse us, panda..." my mother said with a serious voice, but embarrassed at the end. Then she closed the door quickly.

"You mean the time at which your 'bad' part threw herself in front of my blow to save Po?" I asked curiously, "Why do you have to talk to Po about it?" she hesitated, sighed and then answered me with a thoughtful tone.

"It's like I said, Jade: it is more complicated than it seems"

I couldn't do much but smile. I never know whether my mother liked Po, or if he liked her. It was something weird, and I often wonder if one day one of them would end up saying something. They do not demostravam stronger feelings that a great friendship, but it was clear that there were times when this relationship was different.

Three days have passed since then. Nothing very interesting had happened in the Valley of Peace. I hadn't yet found an appropriate way to train kung fu, so I was just reading the boring and endless scrolls of the Jade Palace's library.

One hour for lunch, I went to do the only exercise that allowed me so far: to go down to the Valley of Peace to take a walk and see if everything was in order. Passing through the dusty, bustling streets of the village, I didn't spot any sign of danger, but one thing bothered me: everyone around me seemed to be talking about me or about the Jade Palace. Then I saw a large golden poster hanging on a wall, an advertisement for TWT, where two citizens were talking and looking at the poster.

"Look at that! It's been a long time since I don't watch the incredible fights from TWT. I wonder what they will plan this time?" asked the first, very excited.

"I have no idea. But tell me, did you hear that Master Shifu refused again to enter the Jade Palace in the tournament?" asked the second, now a little more serious.

"Ha! Who doesn't know that? But it's nothing new, I do not remember a single time that the Jade Palace has participated in a competition "

"Of course not! They have more to worry about than a silly tournament" an old lady who was passing nearby commented.

"Yeah...I guess you're right," said the first citizen.

"I don't know...they could participate at least once. The last champions have proved too confident, I think they deserve a lesson. And besides, I would not bet so high in the Jade Palace. We had many talents in the last event" commented another.

That conversation made me curious. Everyone thought similarly to me. Many wanted the Jade Palace into the event and at the same time, understood our absence in it. But what I couldn't take out of my head was the last comment I heard. Are there even citizens from the Valley of Peace who believed that the Jade Palace could lose? What talents could be those who could overcome us like that?

I continued walking through the valley, until I heard someone running behind me and a wooden wheels spinning fast. A boar was running through the streets pushing a wooden cart in front of him, making everyone jump sideways to avoid being runned over. I noticed that inside the wagon had several vases, paintings and other valuables.

Far away, I saw that my friends Koshi and Leona were running with two boars tied to their backs, chasing the latest villain, for sure. I thought quickly and ran a little further from where I was, pulled a long piece of bamboo, and when the wooden cart passed me, I struck the bamboo between its wheels, making them stop. The boar that was pushing the waggon banged his nose on the cart, and I saw a great white vase with a beautiful painting of roses and full of little diamonds on its edges flew out of the cart.

That thing should be as expensive as a house in the Valley of Peace! No matter how, I couldn't let it fall. I ran in time to stretch my left hand to secure it, but I felt a terrible pain at having to hold the heavy vase with my injured arm, so I threw it in the air again. I tried to hold with his right hand, but the vessel slipped, and with one last desperate attempt, I stretched my neck forward and managed to balance it. I felt a great relief, but soon felt that someone picked up the vase and punched me in the chin, knocking me down.

"Thanks, sucker!" shouted the boar, which ran then.

Koshi and Leona ran past me and I got up angry to help them in pursuit. The creature was fast, I couldn't reach it, let alone my friends with the huge weight on their backs.

"We can't let him get to the bamboo forest" Leona said.

A short time later, a girl with a white whole costume came out of nowhere, jumping from a roof, and took the vase from the hands of the thief.

"Hey! Give me back that, you brat!" the thief said.

I realized that the girl was a clouded leopard, and that in her mask had a beautiful lotus flower drawn on the right side. That was the girl who had helped us to defeat Taotie, who calls herself Lotus Flower. She carefully placed the vase on the floor and then gave a strong punch in the thief's belly, making him fall to the ground with shortness of breath. As soon as we approached, she nodded to greet, jumped to the top of a roof and then disappeared.

"Hang on! We just wanted to thank your help" I exclaimed loudly, but she probably hadn't heard me "Thanks, Lotus Flower!...what's wrong with this girl?" I asked myself.

Koshi and Leona put the other two boars on the floor and tied them with their last sidekick. They were both still sweating and gasping for breath.

"Damn it! That was hard. Run with a wild boar on your back for 20 minutes non stopping at full speed...why training? Just repeat this once a day for a few months and I can become the next Dragon Warrior..." joked Koshi, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand.

"I agree...how do these guys run so fast with these short legs? Not to mention that someone is needing a diet" said Leona.

I was about to comment and greet my friends, but it was then that I had a horrible feeling to have someone mocking me. I watched to see where those voices were coming, and I realized that we were in front of a large luxurious tent with the symbol 'TWT' above. It was the tent to sign up for the event!

Several students wearing uniforms of their academies were around us, and they were muttering things about us. Until the murmur became more intense and turned into provocation laughs. What were they laughing at? Nothing funny had happened. And then I, Koshi and Leona heard them say to each other: "HA, look! They are the cowards who decided not to participate in the tournament!"..."I bet they're scared of what they would face if they joined the tournament"..."What kind of warriors refuse a fight? I bet that in the Jade Palace there are only losers!"..."Are these the heroes that all China talks about? It seems that it's time to find new ones, 'cause these are only able to take out the trash!".

The words seemed to strike me like punches. Who were those fools to think they could say something about the Jade Palace? Most of the students were probably the same age as me, or maybe a year older. And even if they were great and skilled fighters, it didn't give them the right to mock the Jade Palace, let alone my friends! My blood ran hot in my veins, making me shake with rage.

"What're you laughing at? Think you could do better?" I exclaimed, loud enough for everybody to hear.

"Oh-oh! Watch out, guys...the cat has short temper" laughed a young boy who was ahead of me, a few meters away. He was a young brown bear, a little taller than me, with a voice that sounded like a little child's and was wearing a white kimono with black belt. On the left side of the outfit was the name of his gym: Wonders of China. I had read about them, but never met a student from there.

"So you're the idiot who said those things about my friends? Come on, furball! Your voice is thinner than mine and you think you can say that about the heroes of China? They surely have saved this mat that you call your skin more than once!" I exclaimed, releasing all my anger in my words. The Wonders of China's students murmured between themselves with hatred.

"Hey! Watch your mouth, small one. You would not be so bold to say these things if you knew who I am!" he exclaimed in response.

"If you are much, then you are nothing more than the best of your own academy. But anyways, why don't You come here so that I can show you Who I Am?" I answered right away. Students from other academies stared at me and then mocked the brown bear. He was furious and tried to come to me, but his colleagues stopped him and pulled him into the middle of other students.

"If it's as brave as you say...why the lady doesn't present yourself?" said a deep voice that sounded above me.

It was a boy who asked, a tall, muscular puma. He was wearing a black kung fu costume with white sleeves and collar, black trousers with white flames drawn on the bottom, and there was a symbol on his chest which was the coat from where he and his colleagues trained: Eternal Warriors Academy. I looked around me, with everyone staring at me, then pulled my breath and spoke loud enough for everyone hear me.

"My name is Liu Zhang. I'm the sixth member of the current Furious Six and..." but before I could finish, I was forced to stop.

All students of the academies that were around there...started laughing...they were laughing out loud, as if I'd told a very funny joke. It paralyzed me. They looked like they wouldn't stop soon, but why were they doing this?

"Hahahahaha! Furious Six? Do you think we were born yesterday?! Don't be ridiculous, little girl! Even an idiot baby knows that the Jade Palace is the home of the legendary Furious Five! Not Six" cried the same boy, his hand on his belly as it was hurting by the much he laughed.

"And let me guess, the puppy is the next Dragon Warrior and his girlfriend will take the place of Shifu as master of the Jade Palace...Hahahahaha!" laughed one of his comrades.

I didn't know what to say. That was a shock. Everyone in the Valley of Peace and from nearby cities knew who I was, but these students should have come from somewhere far away didn't even know who I was and neither that the Furious had a new member. How? Why? And then I heard a comment from a girl, a brown bunny who was about 10 years old, who was talking to a muscular lion boy, weirdly little older than her.

"Wait...isn't she the girl who many call 'Jade'? The girl who survived the attack from...er...how was he called?..." she asked.

"Who cares? It does not matter who she is, she can not be considered a warrior just because she is the daughter of a warrior..." he said with disdain. I closed my fists with hatred, that had already gone too far.

Surely that girl was referring to the terrible attack of Jin Chow, when I was still in the Bao Gu Orphanage. But how could anyone have such a disregard for what happened and those who died in that massacre? It didn't happen so long ago fro people to forget it like this. That left me seething with anger, but I couldn't move nor say anything about it. However, the unexpected made everyone be silent: Leona started laughing even louder than the students of the academies. Her laugh was contagious, but left everyone confused, especially when Koshi also began laughing, losing his breath and getting to his knees.

"Why are the assholes laughing so hard?!" he exclaimed the muscular lion boy who was talking to the brown bunny earlier. He was shirtless, wearing only a green pants and a white band on his forehead, in which was written the name of his gym: Legendary Warriors. Leona caught her breath and replied, still laughing.

"Sorry, guys. But seriously?! Do you have Any morals to talk about the Jade Palace?"

"Who the hell are you?...Wonders of China? I also wonder who the heck you are! Eternal Warriors Academy? You should switch to Eternal Losers kkkkkkk ! What are you still doing in the tournament? Praying for someone to give you the penultimate place? Hahahahaha" continued Koshi, also laughing, referring to each gym or academy.

"And let's match that of Legendary Warriors you've got nothing, hahahaha! Now, why the kids just don't go back home or pretend to be heroes elsewhere, before saying something about the true masters?" Leona completed, mocking each participant.

Everyone stared at us as if they wanted to kill us, gritting their teeth and squinting, all exclaiming in response to my friends.

"Awwww, look, Leona, they got angry...such cute douchebags, don't you think?" scoffed Koshi, still laughing.

I couldn't share all my friends' cheer. The fact that those idiots laughed at me and someone showed such disdain for my friends who were killed by Jin Chow still bothered me deeply. I knew it was wrong to let that irritated me so easily, but all what I wanted now was to defeat each of these assholes, one by one, in the TWT. The crowd grew more and more agitated, looking like they were going to attack us at any time, but inexplicably all the academies were silent after a girl shouted from the crowd:

"Enough!"

It was a girl about my age, a beautiful serval with green eyes who wore a purple kung fu costume with a golden dragon drawn on it appeared from the crowd and was looking straight at me with a smile. Then I heard whispers coming from the students of the Eternal Warriors Academy and saw that another serval, apparently the twin sister of girl in purple, was among them. But unlike her sister, she had purple eyes and was wearing a green costume.

"Look, it's Yuan Fei!" - "And Meinu!" - "The TWT champions!" - "They've won the championship four times in a row since they joined the event" - "Damn, they will participate this year as well" said the students between themselves.

I was impressed, winning in an event like the Thunder Warrior Tournament four times in a row was for few ones. I didn't expect two girls of my age could have such a prestige. Something inside me told me that I had to fight with them to see if they were really as good as others said, but judging by the look of the two fixed on me and the way they suppressed a laugh told me that that probably wouldn't take long before It happened.

"So you are from the Jade Palace? Great, it was already time for a challenge that is on a par with us show up. What do you think about it, Meinu?" asked Yuan Fei, turning her green eyes to her sister.

"I say it'll be interesting, Yuan Fei. I've heard your history, Liu Zhang, and I think our fight will be the best of the whole tournament" continued Meinu, looking at me with her arms crossed.

"I mean: you will participate, won't you?" Yuan Fei asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Of course we will!" Koshi said in a challenging tone.

"And that's not all, we will defeat every and each of you" Leona continued.

"That's it! We'll kick your asses and you'll regret mocking the Jade Palace and the heroes of China, right, Jade?" Koshi asked excitedly. As much as I wanted to support them, I knew very well what Master Shifu had told me, and I had to strain to answer.

"...We...we can't..." everyone stared at me in amazement.

"How so?" asked Leona.

"I'll explain!" interrupted Yuan Fei "Your fool Master Shifu, forbids the Jade Palace to participate in Any competition. You can't join the TWT, thanks to him" she laughed then. Without my noticing, Meinu had come to my side and grabbed my injured arm with one hand, causing me to collapse on my knees because of the pain.

"So I think you'd better stop being so arrogant, because you can Not prove that you are the best here! Or you three want to prove it here and right now?" she teased.

I didn't have to answer that question. At the moment that Yuan Fei said that about my master I wanted to hit her very badly, and now Meinu came to me with the intention of hurting me. I released the arm she was holding, then grabbed hers and pulled her toward me to give her a knee to the stomach, but she blocked the blow with her hand and hit me with the elbow on my face, then did a backflip and prang a kick on my chin.

I ended up walking back and stopped only when I touched the concrete wall of a house that was on our side. Meinu came running towards me and aimed a kick in my ear, but I ducked just in time. I realized that the blow had cracked the wall up to the roof, if it had hit me I'd surely be in trouble. She came back towards me and we started to exchange sequences of punches and kicks.

Meanwhile, Yuan Fei advanced toward Koshi and Leona. She was very fast! My friends took aim several punches and kicks simultaneously but didn't hit a single blow. Until she decided to run around them and gave a sweep kick on Leona, knocking her on the floor, then tried to hit a rotating kick in Koshi's snout, but he blocked with both forearms and then smashed her in face. Leona took the time to get up and gave a powerful kick on Yuan Fei's chest, throwing her towards me.

I leaned my body backwards to dodge the thrown body, and when I got up Meinu slammed my stomach so hard that left me breathless, then she went behind me and gave me a very strong shot in the spine, throwing me away and making me scroll to Koshi's feet, who helped me to get up. We align ourselves and got into fighting position, and the two champions of the TWT did the same, but before we could continue, a goat who was working in the inscriptions' tent came in front of us.

"STOP! Stop this mess right away!" he exclaimed, then looked at me and my friends "You! Jade Palace warriors or not, you're messing up my work and delaying the registrations of the tournament. Get out of here immediately!" then he turned to Meinu and Yuan Fei "And as for you, if you fight again before the tournament, I will disqualify the two of you! Are we clear?"

"Bah! Whatever, old guy" mocked Yuan Fei, then turned her back and walked away with her sister.

"See you later, loser" Meinu teased me.

We were about to leave the place until Koshi and Leona saw that the bandits, who were still bound, were trying to escape.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" exclaimed my friends, then ran into a run to catch them.

I was still half shaken by what had happened and just kept following my way to the steps of the Jade Palace, crestfallen. I still couldn't believe that those students didn't know me and neither that they had so little regard for the Jade Palace and for us, the Six Furious, who they still believed were the Furious Five. I wanted to participate in the tournament just for the pleasure of competing, but now it was something personal. I couldn't let those idiots say ills about me, my friends, my master and the Jade Palace.

But Master Shifu forbade us to participate, so what could I do about it? I'd no idea. I heard a thunder and realized it was going to rain soon, so I'd run up the endless palace steps before I could moisten myself, but before I could, a sweet female voice sounded behind me.

"Going already? Won't you even greet me, Liu?"

When I turned around, I came across a beautiful dark-skinned puma with deep brown eyes who was carrying a basket of fruits in one hand. Despite being an old friend of Master Shifu, she looked much younger than she really was. Her name was Ju Kiasari, she was Koshi's mother.

"Oh, hello Master Ju" I greeted then bowed.

"Good afternoon, Master Jade. Why are you so sad? Don't tell me that that fight has gotten you down like this..." she asked in a friendly tone.

"How do you know?" I asked, confused.

"I was shopping and saw you, Koshi and Leona arresting those bad guys. You were so focused that you haven't seen me, and you didn't even notice that I followed you up here" she said.

"Er...sorry, it's just that..." I was going to apologize for not having noticed her, but she chuckled.

"No need to apologize, sweety. I understand" she went on, full of understanding in her tone "I also think things went a little too far."

"And the worst of all is that we won't be able to do anything about it..." I said, sadly.

"Can't you? Of course you can! You just have to win the tournament and show that those fools were wrong" she said, in a calm and confident tone.

"I'd love to, but Master Shifu..." I was about to protest, but Master Ju interrupted me, whispering in my ear.

"He doesn't have to know" then she winked at me "I'll handle this for you"

At that moment it began to rain, Master Ju and I looked at the long staircase with an early fatigue of having to climb every step of it, but we heard the sound of salvation soon after. Crane was flying towards the palace, but we shouted his name and asked him to take us up there, flying.

He rolled his eyes with the embarrassing request, but took us anyway. Once we arrived at the doors of the Hall of Warriors, we thank him and we went together seek Master Shifu. I wondered how the Master Ju believed she could hide from Master Shifu that me and others would participate in the TWT, he probably would know sooner or later. We found him in the kitchen.

"Good afternoon, Master Ju. How are you?" greeted Master Shifu, bowing then.

"Good afternoon, Master Shifu. It's been a while, huh?" she said after bowing.

They began to talk about many subjects. First about the news of the week, then about their students, their health, they recalled stories of when they were young that, of course, was long ago, and many other stuff. Crane and I were almost asleep on our feet. The full moon was already shining in the sky when I realized that the time had passed very fast. Master Shifu had almost forgotten that me and Crane were among them in the kitchen, and as he noticed, he asked us to sit and have tea, which he had prepared himself.

After tea, those two continued talking! I never thought someone could have so many subjects to talk about. Crane and I were so bored that we started playing rock, paper, scissors. He won most of the time, but I could've sworn he was cheating.

"Ha! I won!" I said by playing rock.

"Nope. Paper wraps rock, Liu" he said.

"But you chose scissors" I exclaimed, pointing to his three fingers outstretched.

"No, this is a paper, see" he showed me again that he was with the three fingers outstretched. Played again, this time I chose paper and so did he.

"Damn, deuce" I said quietly.

"Nope, Liu, scissors cuts paper"

"But you chose paper!" I exclaimed, he was with the three fingers stretched again.

"Er...of course not, these are two scissors, see?" he sneered.

"What?!" I exclaimed, then we both laughed.

Crane has always been a good friend of mine since my first day at the Jade Palace. Although some of his jokes are horrible, he was funny and was always by my side when I needed. Not long after, I heard a conversation that actually was worth listening.

"Well, Master Shifu, I noticed that Jade was injured during a mission. She won't be able to train for a few weeks, isn't she?" asked Master Ju.

"I could ask her to train her endurance, but she has been training a lot lately. I think a few weeks of rest will do her good, meanwhile she can read some..." he said.

"Well, I think she won't like that very much, am I wrong, Liu?" Master Ju turned and winked at me.

"I won't? Er, I mean, Of course not! Pff, really?! I rather training. How can I be ready for the tourna...I Mean, to the dangers and villains that may lie ahead if I sit still and do nothing?" I said quickly, trying to hide my anxiety and hoping that Master Shifu wouldn't notice. Master Ju then continued.

"Master Shifu, if you don't mind, I'd like to know if Liu could stay at my house for a while, until she recover, maybe. I'm sure I can show her a few not too hard exercises, so she can recover faster and she won't need to stop training" she asked in a friendly tone, then bowed. Master Shifu was thoughtful for a moment and stared at me before answering.

"Well, I do not see any problem in that. Just ask Tigress if she also agrees, and Liu...behave yourself, obey Master Ju, got it?"

I almost yelled with happiness. It was easier than I expected. Now I just needed to ask my mother and I'd soon be training for the TWT. Me and Master Ju bowed to thank Master Shifu, then said goodbye and left the kitchen and headed to my room.

"You are terrible at telling lies, has anyone ever told you that?!" Master Ju whispered to me with a serious look. I, in turn, just laughed shyly, embarrassed.

Probably my friends were still training in the Training Hall, because I couldn't heard a single noise in their rooms. The wind was blowing strongly and a storm was coming. A thunder sounded near the palace as I opened the door of my room, and to our surprise, there she was, my mother, Tigress.

It was dark, but I could see that she was holding a straw bag, rushing to hide something inside it and then got up and surreptitiously kicked the bag to under her bed. I was curious to ask what it was, but I restrained myself. My mother took a candle and ignited it to light up the room.

"Oh, hi dear, hello Master Ju" my mother greeted us and bowed, then continued in an embarrassed tone "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Mommy!" I smiled.

Master Ju greeted my mother and then told about the conversation she had with Master Shifu and that she wanted me to stay in her home while I recovered from my injured arm. My mother was quiet for a moment, as if she were in doubt between letting me go or not, oddly glancing at the bag she'd hidden. For some reason, she seemed tense to answer, as if she knew what I was up to something. I swallowed hard when she sighed before answering in a serious tone.

"It's all right. You can go"

"Yay! Thanks, Mom!" I yelled with happiness, then hugged her.

"But don't forget: that's not your house, so respect Master Ju, do what she tells you to do, don't stay up too late, don't forget to brush your teeth, take with you some clothes and pajamas..."

"Oh, Mom!..." I said, embarrassed. I was no longer a child, c'mon!

I prepared my things to go to Master Ju's house. I took the biggest bag I had and put in it: extra clothes, pajamas, a book I was reading, my throwing knives and grabbed my katanas. After I gave a big goodbye hug to my mother, I asked her to tell the others that I'd be out for a few days, then grabbed a jacket and went out with Master Ju.

We stopped by the stairs of the palace, thoughtful about going down all those steps under a heavy rain. At that moment, I remembered that Po once played with me sliding down the stairs upon a shield. If we did that, we'd get down to the Valley quickly, but I didn't know if Master Ju'd like the idea. I looked around and she was gone.

"Master Ju?" I called her. Soon after, she came running towards me and threw a big round shield toward me. I held it and she made a great leap toward the stairs, then rose to her feet upon the shield and slipped down the stairs.

"See you down there!" she yelled.

"...okay..." I said, surprised, then did the same.

It was hard to keep my balance and not to fall. The wind was blowing strong and the rain made my heavy body, it was hard to steady myself on the metal shield, even more at that high speed. Arriving downstairs, Master Ju was already waiting for me, and then we started running through the empty and dark streets of the Peace Valley.

After a few minutes we were running in the Valley's limits and inside the district of Red Houses on the west side of the Valley. If we kept following ahead, we'd get to the river that ran next to the Valley, but we stopped when we saw the bright light of a house's lantern. We were away from most of the red houses from the district, it seemed to be a peaceful place.

The house wasn't as big as the palace, of course, but it was very beautiful, and certainly settled smoothly one family of larger beings, like felines, wolves, etc., unlike most common houses in the Valley, which accommodated rabbits, pigs and goats, mainly. Despite being a dark night, I could see that the walls were red, that the house had a second floor, a lovely garden with a small zen pond and further ahead there was a training area with some wooden warriors, similar to the palace's ones, next to an area to train fight.

We ran to the door to shelter ourselves from the rain, then knocked on the door. There should be someone inside, as there was light coming from inside, visible through the windows and the crack of the door. I heard whispers of women's voices from inside, then the door opened. 


	17. Chapter 3 (part 2)

**Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang**

 **03\. Only the strongest will remain (part 2)**

I ended up facing a pair of knees. It was the Amari, one of Koshi's sisters, a beautiful cheetah with dark golden skin and black spots and deep hazel eyes. She was wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt with white details and a white flower designed on it and black training pants. She glanced at me, apparently surprised and hugged me with an impressive strength for someone who had such a slender and thin body. Spinning and going inside the house while I was strongly hugged, I could hear her exclaim her happiness to see me.

"LIU! Wow, long time no see! It's been so long since the last time you came here! It's so good to see you again..."

"It's...good to see you too...Amari...but could you stop...crushing me with your..." I struggled to speak while I was out of breath, then Amari released me, embarrassed by the weird situation.

"Oops, hehe, sorry, it's just that..." she apologized, but before she could apologize, I was embraced strongly by the other two sisters of Koshi: Meixiu and Yan.

"Liu! You're here!" they said together.

"...Yes...hello, girls..." I said, struggling to speak by shortness of breath...again.

Sometimes I forget how it felt like to come to Koshi's home. It was like having a normal life, but exciting and fun the same time, what brought me memories of my own family. The difference was that I wasn't the only girl in the family, while Koshi is the only brother as well as the youngest sibling. Another difference is, of course...the Kiasari sisters. Particularly, not trying to fancy myself or something like that, I didn't find my siblings as beautiful as I am. But this situation was difficult with these girls.

The three Kiasari sisters were gorgeous! That I must admit, even though I'm a girl too. Three felines with sculptural bodies, piercing eyes and lovely voices, not to mention that they were very friendly. I'd say without doubt that all the boys would give anything to make out with them, and they surely wouldn't describe them just as 'gorgeous'.

Yan was a sweet siberian tiger with orange fur with beautifully well drawn black stripes, and deep green eyes. She looked a little like my mother, Tigress, on height and body type, but the difference was easily noticed by the pattern of stripes and mainly that Yan's fur was a bit longer and the white part of her collar was larger. She was wearing a beautiful raspberry silk shirt, gray pants and sandals.

The other sister, the youngest and shortest of the three, was the cute Meixiu. She was a beautiful snow leopard with a grayish white fur with black spots, shiny purple eyes and a distinctive long, thick and fluffy tail. She was wearing a kung fu costume with long sleeves of the color of her eyes, a little darker pants and sandals.

After they released me, I greeted the three properly and looked around. That house still had a nice and cozy atmosphere just like the last time I visited them.

Looking from the inside, the house looked like a square that could be divided into four different squares. In the lower left corner, to my left, was the living room, which had two sofas, two armchairs, a small wooden table in the center, a fireplace, shelves with beautiful plants, and other furnishings. In the lower right corner, to my right, was the dining room, which had a table and chairs around it so everyone had meals together. At the top right was the kitchen, where there was an island table in the middle, one wood burning stove, cabinets and sticking to the wall of the training storage room was a stair leading to the upstairs. At the top left corner, the only room separated by walls, was a special room where were stored training equipments, scrolls, and which served also as arsenal.

"So, tell us, Liu: what brings you from up the palace to down here" said Amari, still a little embarrassed to have crushed me with her hug.

"Yeah! What are the news?" asked Yan, quickly, before I could answer.

"Don't tell me you're going to spend the night with us?" asked Meixiu, already excited about the possibility. I didn't know what to say first, but soon Master Ju helped me.

"Hey, you three, calm down. We just arrived" she asked, then returned her gaze to me "Liu, please make yourself at home. The girls will show you the bedroom and help you to settle. Meanwhile, I'll make some tea and something to eat" she said, winking then.

"Hehe...thank you, Master Ju" I felt a little ashamed, but I bowed to thank the hospitality.

I was going to drive me up the stairs to get into the rooms and leave my backpack upstairs, but Meixiu held me and asked me to don't go there. She asked me to give my backpack to her, and she would take it to the bedroom. I was curious about this attitude, and Meixiu told me that Koshi and Leona had returned from a mission very tired, bathed and had gone to bed. She wanted to go alone, because she thought we would end up waking them.

While Master Ju was preparing tea and, judging by the delicious smell, a cornmeal cake, the girls and I chatted about may subjects and told the news. They asked me about my first mission as one of the Six Furious and about the fight against the 'bad parts' of my friends.

After explaining everything, they started talking about their training with Master Ju, about boys and told me some funny stories. Some time passed until Master Ju asked us to go to the dining room to have some cake and tea. Koshi and Leona appeared soon after. When we were almost done with the meal, Master Ju asked for everyone's attention.

"Amari, Yan, Meixiu, Liu, Koshi, Leona" she said, according to our positions on the table "You know very well the Thunder Warrior Tournament and its rules, but the fact is that none of you actually fought in the tournament. I'm sure you would be piece of cake for you to win, but now we have another problem to take care of first"

"Er...mom, sorry, but why are you telling us this?" asked Amari, before Master Ju could continue.

"Yeah. What's this problem?" asked Meixiu, already anxious.

"Settle down, girls. Well, it is not news that the Jade Palace hasn't participated in many competitions these past years, and provocations have always been done about it. The point is that today the provocations have gone too far and we can't turn a blind eye to the insults made to the Jade Palace this time. Liu, Koshi and Leona got into a fight today because of that" Master Ju paused for a moment before continuing, her gaze now even more serious "Yuan Fei and Meinu have won the championship four times in a row and are the current champions of the youth category, and won in all categories at least once during that time, including the adult category"

"Those idiots will still pay dearly for what they said about our friends!" I muttered.

"That's for sure" agreed Koshi.

"These two little pests are excellent fighters and have great skills for students of their age. The point is that I'm almost sure that they are being influenced to say what they say, and also to influence other academies" Master Ju continued.

"What?!" we exclaimed together.

"Does it means that someone is telling them to do this?" asked Yan, stunned.

"How did you come to this conclusion, mom?" Amari asked, surprised.

"I'm not sure about that...yet. But I have my reasons: they are students from the Royal Academy, which has many principles and requires a lot of respect from its students, including with other academies. I doubt that any student would have something against a Palace respected by all China, not to mention that Yuan Fei and Meinu joined the Royal Academy thanks to a special invitation, due a 'natural talent to fight'. If they lose this invitation, they can't join another prestigious academy for a very long time" Master Ju completed.

That news left me amazed and curious at the same time. The Royal Academy was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all China! It is very difficult for anyone to learn kung fu there, but Yuan Fei and Meinu managed to get in for something very rare: "talent". I could hardly believe it. Then surely that fight against us was as normal for them as a sparing.

My hand shook with anger, special or not, regardless of the academy where they studied, they had no right to mock my friends. I had to defeat them, but now it seemed that my journey would become even more difficult. Master Ju spoke at last, her tone confident and serious.

"So, basically, we have a mission: Fight in the name of the Jade Palace, win the tournament, teach those who mocked us all a lesson, and honor the true warriors and heroes of China. I'll enrol Liu, Koshi and Leona in the tournament as soon as possible"

"But mother!" Yan exclaimed.

"What about us? Won't we do anything?" asked Meixiu, a little disappointed.

"We also want to fight for the Jade Palace!" added Amari.

"...No, I understand you, girls, but the task falls to them. You don't train at the Jade Palace nor live there, I'm sorry. But don't worry, I have a task for you three. In fact, you will ensure their victory" Master Ju said, with much understanding in her voice.

"We will ensure the victory?" asked the three, at the same time.

"Yes, you. We can't show weakness in this tournament and our skills must be at its peak if we want to impress and defeat all the other participants. We have almost a month to prepare ourselves, and during that time I will make an intensified workout for you all" she continued.

"Intensified?..." murmured Yan, with an anticipated fatigue.

"But, I still can't understand how We'll ensure the victory of Liu, Koshi and Leona" Amari said, scratching her head. Master Ju smiled before continuing.

"Simple: you are six, and...I will split you into two different teams, while we're training. Liu, Koshi and Leona will be the Alpha Team, and the three of you will be the Bravo Team. I will make a score, and the team with the fewest points will repeat the workout over the next month" she chuckled then.

"WHAT?!" Yan, Meixiu and Amari exclaimed together.

"But...an intensified workout of Yours..." moaned Yan.

"Last time we did an intensified workout we needed to stay the next month resting...how can anyone do one of these workouts two consecutive months?" asked Amari, a little tense.

"Hehehe...look, Liu, bro, Leona...don't get us wrong, but we kinda won't lose this competition, no matter how. Nothing personal" Meixiu teased us, giving anguished laugh then.

At that moment I felt my body heat up with emotion, my heart trembled and I was very eager to start training. Me, Koshi and Leona looked at each other and smiled, that competition was practically won.

"Forget it, sis" Koshi said with a smile.

"You may try" Leona provoked.

"Bring it on!" I exclaimed.

Once we finished our meal, Master Ju advised us to go to sleep right away because the training would begin soon at morning. Me and others went to our rooms. I slept in the same room as Koshi and Leona, while the girls went to their room. I began to feel a little cold during that stormy night, so I curled up on my blanket as if I were a caterpillar.

Leona blew out the candle and then everyone fell asleep. It was a long, quiet night, just listening to the raindrops falling on the roof, a sound that always calms me. I dreamed I was on the edge of a river, with the wind blowing lightly on my face, until, suddenly, I heard someone approaching fast. I turned to see who it was: a shadow! The shadow of someone who looked familiar. Before I could say anything, the shadow approached me with an amazing speed! It attacked me before I could react, and knocked me to the river.

I sank and the flow took me away until I hit my head on a rock, then I woke up scared, letting out a little shout. I looked around, I was safe in the room. I let out a sigh of relief, but I couldn't relax for much longer.

When I was scratching my head, I saw that I had a chain wrapped around my wrist! I got out of my bed scared, where did that thing came from? I tried to free myself, but it was very tough, and it was bedridden. I tried to pull back propping my feet against the bed, but I ended up slipping and falling on my back, which woke Koshi and Leona.

"Sorry, I didn't want to..." said Koshi as he got up.

"I've told you I'm not gonna..." shouted Leona as she sat, then stopped, embarrassed.

I wonder what the two were dreaming, since both looked at each other, embarrassed. But now there were other problems to solve first. Koshi and Leona also couldn't get rid of their chains and were as thoughtful as I was. Then I saw that the chain was locked by a small padlock, and next to my bed was a weird cube, with multiple colors at its sides.

When I picked it up, I saw it had nine squares on each side, and I could turn it to change the place of the colors. At that time, Master Ju opened the door.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" she asked, in an apparently friendly tone.

"Mom, what's this?" asked Koshi, indignantly.

"Was it you who chained us, Master Ju?" Leona asked.

"Yes, I did. It is the first task of your training days, from now on" she explained.

"What?! How so?" I inquired.

"Well...basically, you all have one of these devices, which a mathematician friend of mine gave me. They are 'magic cubes'. All you have to do is turn the cube until there is only one color in each side of it, and then the cube will open and you will have the key to open your locks" Master Ju explained.

That left us surprised. I had never seen anything like it, nor had any idea how to begin, but it didn't seem that difficult. I started to turn colors anyway to open it, but before I was successful, Amari appeared behind Master Ju.

"Good morning - ouch!" she said, after hitting her head on the door. See Amari left me with a certain anger, why hadn't she been chained too?

"Hey! Why Amari wasn't chained like us?" I asked, indignantly.

"Er...actually, Liu, I woke up with your shout, and I've just opened my padlock" she answered, embarrassed. We were flabbergasted.

"Y-You've opened this thing, in such a short time? How?" Koshi and Leona stuttered.

"Well...it is that I...when we started doing the intensive training on the first day, the girls took all day to learn how to open the magic cube...but I had no idea about how it worked. I was trying all day, and the sun was almost rising the next day when I finally managed to open it, but when I closed my eyes to sleep...I got chained again" she told us, terrified by her memories.

"I know how much that was hard for you, my daughter, but on the other hand, you've opened the cube again before dinner that day, and now you know the secret of the magic cube" Master Ju praised her, making Amari blush.

"Yeah, yeah! Big Deal. She can open the cube only half an hour before us, so what?!" said Yan, from her room.

"Don't worry, folks! We promise we'll save a little breakfast for you" said Meixiu.

"We?" scoffed Yan.

Koshi, Leona and I looked at each other, worried. During the intensive training, Master Ju would count a score for both teams. If we took too long to open the magic cube, we'd be crushed on the score and we would have to repeat the training the following month, and worse, our tummies rumbled like a thunder, due to starvation. The Kiasari sisters would eat all the breakfast. This could not happen!

We started to turn the colors in various possible ways. At first, it didn't seemed to be such a challenging challenge, but as the minutes turned into hours, and no progress appeared to be reached, a little despair arose in my mind. Koshi and Leona were older than me, and certainly had more experience with puzzles than me, but still, they were also struggling to open the magic cube.

After a while, the cube seemed impossible to be solved. I'd never solved a puzzle so complicated since the day I tried to solve the nine linked rings puzzle. The sun was almost at its highest point, and the three of us were still trying to open the cube. Then we heard the sound of the miracle: one of the cubes opened and revealed the key. Leona managed to open the cube!

"Good job, sweetheart! But...how did you open it so easily?" asked Koshi, embracing his beloved.

"I...I do not know. I just...opened it" she said, also without understanding how she had done it.

Unfortunately, Leona's key wouldn't open our locks, only hers. She said she'd train as we tried to open our cubes, but before she could walk out the door, Master Ju appeared, carrying a plate with three dumplings. It was then that I realized that it was time for lunch.

"Impressive, Leona. You have already opened your magic cube" Master Ju congratulated.

"Thank you, Master Ju" she thanked her, bowing.

"Well, Leona, as you have opened your cube, join the girls. After lunch you will start training with them" she said, then held out the tray so she could give us the dumplings. She gave one to me and one for Koshi, and divided the other in half.

"I'll give my best as you try to free yourselves. Good luck" Leona said before going to the stairs and get out.

"Save some training for us!" exclaimed Koshi.

We both kept trying to open the cube, but it seemed to be useless. When we could fix one side of the cube, it messed up again when we tried to fix the other side, and the cycle was repeated with each new attempt.

It was almost night when every minute that passed seemed like a decade. The cube seemed to turn by it's own, the walls seemed to have the six colors of the cube, I felt as if my eyes were getting squared. Every minute that passed was training time lost, but worst of all was that this would be repeated every day if we didn't find the secret to open the magic cube.

A strong wind was blowing outside, making it almost impossible to hear the sound of the girls training. I was already tired just by listening to them, the training seemed to be much worse than I thought. But I was more tired psychologically, this conundrum was making my head throb, as if it was about to explode. There was a way to solve it, but how?! How could Amari solve it so easily?

The moon shone in the sky, then Koshi finally managed to open his magic cube. We both celebrate. Unfortunately, Master Ju wouldn't let him help me with the cube. But in a way, I was relieved that two of our team would now be training to increase the score of our team.

I could hear my friends' cries of pain as the training hours passed. Koshi and Leona were strong, so I was sure they were working hard and reaching their limits, just like me. My head hurt so much that seemed to be throbbing, making me dizzy. How could I open that damn thing?

I listened my friends coming into the house, probably because it was dinner time. My stomach rumbled, then I let out a sigh, boredom overcame me and the puzzle still seemed impossible to solve. Apparently, they all had dinner and then left the house, going back to train. Until how late they would continue? I couldn't think long about that, because a sudden feeling came, terrifying me completely. My bladder seemed about to burst. I needed to go to the bathroom!

"Master Ju! Koshi! Leona! Somebody!" I screamed, but no one listened to me. I was on my own now.

What now? I'd go through an awful shame if I couldn't hold myself. It was now or never, I needed to solve the cube. I started to panic, but I forced myself to calm down. Okay...where should I start now?

I rolled the cube with my hands, then closed my eyes and designed the current position of the colors in my mind. It was then that I realized it was pointless to try to fix all the colors at once. I opened my eyes and noticed that in one part of the cube there was a white cross. So I thought about align the other colors, on the sides, one on each end of the white cross.

Aligned colors, I managed to find a way to leave the white color on only one side of the cube, and all sides that touched the white color already had the first row with only one color. Those would be sides defined for those colors. I kept turning the cube until I could complete the second row of these colors.

Panic began to take over me as I felt urine almost come out. I crossed my legs tightly. Thinking quickly, I noticed that I should use the previous technique to complete the other half of the cube, but this time, making a yellow cross.

Turning the cube quickly, I managed to turn the side, which was the yellow cross before, into one side with only yellow. The cube was almost complete. I turned it over a few times and then I heard the sound of the miracle. The cube opened! I took the key with trembling hands, taking long to open the lock that held me to the bed.

Without celebrating, I walked with my legs tightened against each other and hands on the groin up to the ladder. I couldn't stretch my legs to go down, so I ended up rolling to the floor below. My stomach felt like it would explode. I could not get up, so I crawled to the front door and left the house. Rolling, I went to a very tiny wooden house away from the house, the bathroom! I leaned against it's wall and tried to open the door, but it was locked! I tried to hit it and pull with all my strength to open.

"I'm here" said Koshi, inside, his voice with an exhaustion tone.

"LET ME IN!" I shouted, desperate.

"...no! I'll be out soon, just a second" he replied.

Despair gripped me again. Urine seemed about to slip through my ears if I didn't go to the bathroom now. So I thought: the river! With hands in the groin, I tried to walk, but the pain was so great that forced me to my knees. It was the end, I was going to pee in my pants. I tried to hold back longer, but the pain was immense, forcing me to let out an agonized groan.

"Liu, are you okay?" Koshi opened the door, worried.

"No! Out of the way!" I exclaimed, getting up quickly, pushing Koshi out of the way, running inside the little house and locked the door soon after.

"Geez! What's all the hurry..." Koshi interrupted his speech, since he heard a loud sound of urine stream inside, which came out with so much pressure that I almost got up from where I was sitting. I felt a relief that I hadn't felt in months, a shiver went from the bottom of my spine up to my nape, but at the same time, I felt like this was the most embarrassing moment of my life. "Er...no problem, Liu...y'know...men...I'm fine with using the tree...don't rush" he said, getting away from the house.


End file.
